By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENSBURG -- A plan to reassess properties in the on the North Side of Proctor Avenue drew concerns from city councilors Monday.

Assessor Bruce Green said about 40 properties on the riverside of Proctor Avenue are scheduled for reassessment this year. Properties located on the south side of Proctor Avenue were reassessed last year and drew ire from many homeowners in the area.

During 2016 revaluation, many property owners on the southern side of the Proctor Avenue neighborhood saw assessments saw their assessments rise as much as 50 percent in some cases.

Prior to the grievance process 165 properties saw a valuation hike of $2.5 million. Many of those property owners negotiated their assessment hikes down to a lower amount and an additional 40 had their assessments hikes lowered through the grievance process.

Part of the outcry also stemmed from the fact that the revaluation of those properties was based off of just two sales in the past five years.

Green explained that this year the revaluation will be based off three property sales on the riverside of Proctor Avenue.

Hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s outcry, Councilors Jennifer Stevenson and David Price asked Green about the process for determining property values.

Price said that he understands and assessors position is a lose-lose situation, but said he felt the process being used to assess property values seemed unfair, although did clarify that he was not an expert on the assessors duties.

Stevenson questioned Green on the process for several minutes with an aim of better understanding the assessment process.

Green said that values are determined by property sales of similar homes in similar neighborhoods. He said assessments must be based off market value in order to stand up against grievances.

Despite the answer, Stevenson questioned how property values are determined in areas where properties aren’t being sold. Green explained that sale values drive the assessments and that they must be similar to the properties sold. He said the state also estimates property values and that if the assessed values are off base from state estimates the assessor must be able to prove the property value using sale data.

Stevenson said there must be another means of determining value and asked Green if he could research that process and report back to the board.

Council members briefly discussed issues related to assessments that seemed to be unfair to property owners. This included the revaluation being implemented in one neighborhood per year rather than across the board as well as the spiking nature of hikes when they occur only once every five years.

Steven also questioned the fairness of a high assessment on a property that was purchased above market value.

Green said these factors are taken into consideration when property values are determined.