No.  The Department of Assessment is not responsible for the apportionment, levy, collection, or enforcement of real property taxes.  Unfortunately, in Tompkins County there is no 1-stop location for tax information.  You would need to contact your Town for Town/County tax information, and your school district for their information.  (Most school districts use taxlookup.net to post their school taxes).

For delinquent tax amounts, can you contact the Tompkins County Finance Department or if you live in the City of Ithaca, the City’s Chamberlain’s office.

NYS has recently taken over the STAR exemption, so our office is largely unable to help you.  You can check our online assessment database, to see if the exemption is on your property (it will also show on your school tax bill).  If you bought your house after 2015 (or switched to the STAR Credit Check), this is now an accelerated personal income tax credit and by law, my office is not allowed to share who receives this benefit.  You would need to contact NYS at 518-457-2036.

The minimum acreage for an agricultural land exemption is 7 acres in agricultural production with an average gross sales requirement of $10,000 over a 2-year period.  If the land is under 7 acres, the gross sales requirement rises to $50,000.  There are exemptions for newly planted orchards/vineyards which do not have an initial gross sales requirement.

We often get this question so the best answer that we can give is – if you are a senior, please try our Office for the Aging 607-274-5482.  They are a great resource, and they might know of programs specifically for seniors.

We are now located at 31 Dutch Mill located a mile past the airport off Warren Rd.  We are open Monday to Friday 8am – 4:30.  We do not close for lunch, and we have plenty of parking right at our door.  

The tax levy is determined by the elected politicians or in the case of the School District, by a vote by residents of the school district on the third Tuesday of May.  The assessment is just a means to apportion the taxes.  The tax rate is determined by taking the tax levy and dividing it by the tax base (and then multiplying by 1,000).  An increase in the tax base does not correspond to an increase in the tax levy.  If that was the case, my office would be glad to cut everyone’s assessment by 50%.  But in the real world, the tax rate would simply double so that the taxing jurisdiction would still generate the amount of money that they need to provide the services that they elected to provide.

Another way to think of property taxes is – take your assessment and divide by the overall tax base of the district.  That is then your proportionate share of those taxes.  If you take this percentage and multiply by the overall tax levy, that is your tax bill.  See…you don’t even need to know a tax rate to determine your tax bill.  If you hear anyone talk about tax rates – you know they are trying to hide something.

Example:         Traditional Approach

                                Assessment                        = $300,000

                                Tax Base                            = $7,492,901,465

                                Tax Rate                             = $14.795626

                                Tax Bill                                = $4,438.69

                                Another Way to Look At It

                                Assessment                   = $300,000

                                Tax Base                       = $7,492,901,465

                                Percent of Tax Base      = 0.004004%

                                Tax Levy                             = $110,862,167

                                Tax Bill                                = $4,438.69