POTSDAM – The Town Of Potsdam Taxpayer Association is circulating a petition to stop the 2013 property assessments from going into effect.

“We are asking the town assessor to reset the assessments to the 2012 level,” said Tracey Haggett-Sloan of TOPTA.

At the town council’s April meeting dozens of angry property owners whose assessments had risen above the average increase complained that the latest assessments were out of line.

“We have approached the town council with our request at their May meeting” to go back to the last assessment figures, Haggett-Sloan said in the announcement accompanying the petition. Now TOPTA hopes the petition will reinforce their request.

The petition, online at http://www.change.org/petitions/town-of-potsdam-council-and-town-assessor-stop-the-2013-assessment-and-roll-back-to-the-2012-assessment-levels, is also being circulated in paper form throughout the township.

The petition says:

We, the citizens of the Town of Potsdam, petition the Town Council and Town Assessor to cease the filing of the 2013 Assessment and to set the assessments back to the 2012 Final Roll.

There is sufficient evidence to support this request:

• To date more than 243 people have been seen by the Assessor and he has given back approximately $7 million in assessed value.

• There has been factual presentation of the inequities, inconsistencies and excessive levels of adjusted assessment as voiced at the April and May town council meetings.

• There has been a diverse and vast populous of town residents that have brought forth evident expression of the excessive and inequitable 2013 assessment of their property.

• The formal request for the 2013 assessment tentative roll to be stopped, not moved to the final roll and to reset the level of assessment to the 2012 Final Roll was publically made on May 14th Town of Potsdam Council meeting.

We the undersigned demand that the Assessor cease and desist with the 2013 Tentative Assessment Roll and revert back to the 2012 final roll with any necessary additions due to building permits and/or property loss (fire, building removal).