Kayre Carney of Islandia Real Estate is using the 'R' word a lot on the phone these days. To clients calling and exclaiming about the huge property tax valuation increases, she is saying, relax.
"These are preliminary property values," she wrote on her Web site, saying, "the values are still under review and subject to change, and change they likely will."
As a Certified General Appraiser, she said, "Some of the figures I have seen are spot on and others absolutely ludicrous." She attributes the errors, possible to the valuation team's use of data points suitable for a large metropolitan area, but " in a micro-market like St. John, where the average annual number of residential sales is 40, it has little meaning."
She's also encouraging people to contact her or other real estate agents for a market analysis and broker price opinion which may be of use in making an appeal to the Assessor's office.