Clifton claims victory on sites

CRANBERRY LAKE — A settlement between the town of Clifton and the state over three years of challenged assessments on waterfront property is being hailed as a win for the town.

The agreement approved by state Supreme Court Justice David R. Demarest sets assessments on the state-owned land until 2012 close to the town's previous values.

"It was a great victory for the town of Clifton and also for the town of Fine because it would have greatly affected school taxes," Clifton Supervisor Robert L. Snider said. "We fought the state and won. There's a lot of other communities out there with state land. If you've got the data, which we had, you're going to win."

The agreement settles assessments on 21,000 acres for 2007, 2008 and 2009 not to exceed $71 million and requires no refund from St. Lawrence County, the town or Clifton-Fine Central School, Star Lake, on taxes already paid.

"That's a big plus and quite unusual," said Cranberry Lake property owner Clinton E. Farnsworth, a retired Xerox manager who helped the town with its defense.

The town had assessed the state's property at $79 million. In its last legal challenge, the state valued its property at $4,000, but that was considered a legal strategy. In a previous year, the state had asked the court to set the value of its property at about $51 million.

A spokesman for the state Office of Real Property did not return a call for comment.

St. Lawrence County Director of Real Property Jane B. Powers said the state probably realized it would cost it more to fight than it could recoup.

"It's purely money driven," she said. "Both the town and the state had to give. I think the state made this decision because there are so many larger issues."

The value of all of Clifton's waterfront property has been argued for years.

"I agree the taxes are high, but I think those properties are still under-assessed," Mr. Snider said. "I have yet to have anyone tell me they would sell their property for what it's assessed at. The system states you pay taxes on fair market value. The fair market value of these properties is a lot of money."

The town conducted a revaluation in 2003 that was criticized by many property owners, so it hired Fitts Appraisal Service, Homer, for $54,900 to review the town's 1,088 parcels. The state wasn't happy with the values set by Fitts and began its series of assessment challenges.

The town's data showed that waterfront property accessible only by boat was selling for as much as that reachable by road, at least on Cranberry Lake, Mr. Snider said. The town wasn't able to show the same kind of figures for Lows Lake because of a lack of sales.

The state's records agreed with the town's, Mr. Farnsworth said.

"It was their own data that drove them to settle very quickly," he said.

The settlement gives the town some stability for a few years.

"Everything's clean now," Mr. Farnsworth said. "Those properties are now frozen until the school tax of 2012. We can't change them and they can't change them."

Mr. Snider said the town likely will conduct a revaluation at that time.

"That's my intent," he said. "I would prefer we do it ourselves."