DEKALB – A petition addressed to the DeKalb Town Council and the town’s assessor is asking that property assessments that rose in the latest revaluation be rolled back to last year’s amounts.

Then, they ask, all those assessments should be raised by the same percentage to reach the new total tax base.

Brian Bacon says that he, Ken Masters, and other citizens of De Kalb Junction are circulating the petition and are also trying to form a taxpayers association.

The most recent reassessments in DeKalb “have left the taxpayers up in arms and this petition is now going around to get them reduced,” Bacon said.

“Some assessments are more than double,” he said.

“People cannot afford to pay these high taxes and are being forced to leave the area,” said Bacon.

Except for a few assessments that actually went down, the petition suggests adding five percent to everyone’s assessment from 2012 rather than accept the 2013 figures.

The petition stresses it is seeking fairness.

Suggesting the five percent increase, the petition to the town board says “You decide what is actually needed...within reason, as long as it is the same percentage of increase of assessments for every landowner.”