[Amended 7-9-2007 by L.L. No. 6-2007]
The Mayor of the city shall appoint a single Assessor to a six-year term of office commencing October 1, 1978, as provided by § § 310 and 328 of the Real Property Tax Law. The Assessor must meet the minimum qualification standards established by the New York State Board of Real Property Services.
[Amended 7-9-2007 by L.L. No. 6-2007]
In addition to the Assessor, the Mayor may appoint one Real Property Appraiser who will work in conjunction with and under the direction of the Assessor in valuation of real property for the purpose of taxation within the City of Oswego.
[Amended 2-28-1994 by L.L. No. 4-1994; 7-9-2007 by L.L. No. 6-2007]
The Assessor shall possess all powers and authority and be subject to all the obligations and duties of town assessors and shall make the assessment rolls in the manner provided in the Real Property Tax Law.
[Amended 7-9-2007 by L.L. No. 6-2007]
Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, the assessment of real property and the preparation of the assessment rolls in the City of Oswego shall conform to the substantive laws and procedures set forth in the Real Property Law.
[Amended 7-9-2007 by L.L. No. 6-2007]
There shall be a Board of Assessment Review consisting of five members who shall be appointed by the Common council and shall have all the powers and duties prescribed by the Real Property Tax Law.
When the assessment rolls are so finally completed and verified and so delivered to the City Clerk, the Assessor shall forthwith give public notice by publication for three days in the official paper that such assessment rolls have been finally completed and delivered to the City Clerk and that the same will be open to the public inspection at his office for 10 days.
[Amended 7-9-2007 by L.L. No. 6-2007]
The Assessor shall keep his/her office in the City Hall, which shall also be the office of the Department of Assessment, and the same shall be kept open during designated hours on all business days, except when the Assessor shall be engaged in the examination and valuation of the real property of the city.
[Amended 7-9-2007 by L.L. No. 6-2007]
All descriptions of real estate contained in said assessment rolls shall be carefully examined by the Assessor and all mistakes therein corrected. He/she shall, as often as once in each week, procure from the County Clerk's office memoranda of all conveyances recorded or left for record therein and affecting lands situated in said city of the parties thereto and of the lands affected thereby and shall file the same in his/her office and the same shall be open at all suitable times to public inspection.
The Assessor shall give notice by mail, postage prepaid, to each person, company or corporation whose name appears on the assessment roll of the fact of such assessment and the amount thereof, together with the time and place of reviewing the same hearing the parties who are interested in relation thereto.
The Assessor shall promptly post on the bulletin board in the rotunda of the City Hall a copy of each and every public notice pertaining to any local assessment and shall keep at all times in his office a scrap book in which shall be affixed or pasted copies of every public notice which the Department of Assessment, or any member thereof, is by law required to give or publish and shall keep the same at all times properly indexed.
[Amended 7-9-2007 by L.L. No. 6-2007]
The Assessor of the City of Oswego may serve or cause to be served upon any resident of said city a written or printed notice requiring such resident to appear before him/her at a time and place specified in said notice, but not less than three days after the service thereof, and answer on oath as to any real estate in said city, with the location and description thereof, owned or occupied by him/her or in which he or she has any interest personally or as executor, guardian, trustee of otherwise or in which he/she is the agent, and the name of the owner, executor, guardian, trustee or agent. The Assessor may administer such oath. Any resident of said city neglecting or refusing to appear as required by notice, without sufficient excuse therefor, or who shall refuse to be sworn or to answer pertinent and material questions shall for each and every such neglect or refusal be subject to a penalty of not less than $5 nor more than $50, to be sued for and collected in the name of the City of Oswego, with costs of prosecution; and any person who shall willfully and knowingly swear falsely in answer to any material questions put to him on such hearing shall be deemed guilty of perjury and shall be liable to the punishment prescribed by the laws of this state for perjury.
[Amended 7-9-2007 by L.L. No. 6-2007]
Whenever the Mayor shall be of the opinion on written representation made to him that the Assessor is personally interested in any local assessment or improvement, by this Charter authorized, whereby said Assessor may be taxed or assessed $50 or more and he/she shall so determine, he/she shall thereupon appoint a disinterested freeholder of the city to be an Assessor in the place of the Assessor so disqualified. The City Clerk shall thereupon notify the Assessor so chosen of his/her appointment. Every person so appointed Assessor shall, within five days after written notice of his/her appointment, take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office. Every person so appointed and qualified shall possess all the power and authority of an Assessor under this Charter in respect to said assessment, and shall receive such compensation therefor as the Common Council shall fix.
The Common Council may from time to time direct the City Engineer to prepare and furnish to the Department of Assessment for its use maps, surveys and other data of any real estate in the city or to prepare a roll or rolls of any real estate in the city for the use of the Assessor, exclusive of the valuation. The Common Council may also take such measures as it shall deem expedient to make the Department of Assessment the repository of such maps, surveys and other data as may facilitate a full and accurate description of the real estate in the city and direct the manner of keeping them.
The Common Council is vested with power to correct the assessment rolls in the same manner as a Board of Supervisors may, by law correct, the town rolls of their county. The City Clerk or City Engineer, under the direction of the Council, shall correct all clerical errors in the description or valuation of property on said rolls and erroneous descriptions of real estate therein.