There shall be a Department of Assessment headed by a Director of Assessment, who shall meet the standards as prescribed by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and the local Civil Service Office and approved by the Tompkins County Legislature, and whom the County Administrator shall appoint, subject to confirmation by the Tompkins County Legislature.
The Director of Assessment shall have the power to appoint such deputies, assistants, including at least one assistant deputy, and employees of the Department of Assessment as may be necessary to perform the duties of the Office of Director of Assessment, and as shall be authorized by the Tompkins County Legislature. All deputies, assistants, and employees of the Department of Assessment shall be directly responsible to the Director of Assessment.
The Director of Assessment shall be the sole assessor for the single assessing unit of Tompkins County and shall:
(a) 
Assess, in the manner provided by applicable local and state law, and subject to review as herein provided, all property situated in the County and liable to taxation for state, County, town, village, school, and/or special district purposes, and in connection therewith have all of the powers and perform all the duties of city, village, and town assessors within the County, and the assessment function of said city, villages, and towns is herewith transferred to the County government;
(b) 
Perform all the duties of County government relating to the extension of taxes and the issuance of tax warrants and tax bills;
(c) 
Maintain tax records of title to real property within the County;
(d) 
Present to the Tompkins County Legislature for approval, prior to November 1 of each year, the state-proposed County tax equalization rates consistent with standards prescribed by the State Legislature, and any other information that the Tompkins County Legislature shall request in connection therewith;
(e) 
Establish suitable procedures and facilities for the coordination of all mapping and tax roll activities within the County;
(f) 
Except as may otherwise be provided in this Charter, perform such other and related duties as may be required by the Tompkins County Legislature;
(g) 
In the absence of the Director of Assessment, the Assistant Director of Assessment shall act as the sole Assessor for the single assessing unit of Tompkins County and carry out all the above duties;
(h) 
Upon request of the Director of Assessment and upon approval by the County Legislature, the Department of Assessment may contract to provide assessment services for other municipalities outside of Tompkins County.
(a) 
County Board of Assessment Review. There shall be a County Board of Assessment Review consisting of at least three but no more than five members appointed by the Tompkins County Legislature for five-year terms; provided, however, that not more than one term of office shall expire in any one year. The members of the County Board of Assessment Review are appointed on the basis of knowledge of real property values in the County. Neither the Director of Assessment nor any member of the staff of the Department of Assessment shall be appointed to the Board of Assessment Review. A majority of such Board shall consist of members who are not officers or employees of County, city, town, or village governments. The County Board of Assessment Review shall hear and determine complaints in relation to assessments and shall have all the powers and duties now or hereafter imposed by law on Boards of Review by § 512 of the Real Property Tax Law and by any other law. The County Board of Assessment Review shall be the final assessing authority for all property concerning which a written complaint has been filed. Such County Board shall meet to hear complaints in Ithaca, New York, at a time and place to be fixed by such Board as provided for in § 525 of the Real Property Tax Law. Notice of action shall be sent to each complainant concerning which an application for review has been filed.
(b) 
Local Advisory Boards of Assessment Review. There shall be a Local Advisory Board of Assessment Review for each city and town in the County, consisting of at least three members, at least two of whom are to be appointed annually by the respective local government legislative body and who shall be qualified electors and owners of real property in such city or town, and a third to be a member of the Tompkins County Legislature elected from a district within which all or part of such city or town is located. A member of the professional staff of the Department of Assessment shall be present at each meeting in a consulting capacity.
Each Local Advisory Board of Assessment Review shall consider each complaint and/or grievance concerning assessments from property owners within the city or town for which it is appointed, and may conduct hearings in each such city or town at least annually, at which time it shall consider each complaint and/or grievance and the owners of property initiating each complaint and/or grievance shall have an opportunity to be heard thereon. Upon completion of its hearing, each Local Advisory Board of Assessment Review shall forward each complaint and/or grievance and its recommendations concerning each complaint and/or grievance to the County Board of Assessment Review, which shall proceed to consider each complaint and/or grievance, and the recommendation of each Local Advisory Board of Assessment Review thereon as provided in Paragraph (a) of this section.
Nothing in this paragraph shall preclude the right to be heard only by the County Board of Assessment Review. Application for review to the Local Advisory Board of Assessment Review is optional, and presentation of a written complaint to the Local Advisory Board of Assessment Review is not a condition precedent for consideration of or hearing on a complaint by the County Board of Assessment Review. [Amended 12-4-2018 by L.L. No. 4-2018]
All real property shall be assessed in the city, town, village, and school district in which it is situated according to its condition and ownership as of the following dates:
City of Ithaca
First day of March
Towns including villages
First day of March
School districts
The taxable status date of the city or town, as the case may be, shall be controlling for school district purposes, except as otherwise provided in § 1302 of the Real Property Tax Law
Names and addresses of owners on assessment roll. The Director of Assessment and the Director's staff shall make a reasonable effort to ascertain the name of the owner, last known owner, or reputed owner of real property on the taxable status date applicable. If, in the preparation of the assessment roll, an error or omission is made in the description of a parcel of real property or in entering or failing to enter the name and address of the owner, last known owner, or reputed owner, such error or omission shall not prevent the levy, collection, and enforcement of the payment of the taxes thereon if the parcel can be identified and located with reasonable certainty.
Reference to the section, block, and lot number as shown on the appropriate certified tax map shall be deemed a sufficient description of such parcel. Any other description that may appear on the assessment roll, such as name, address, location, acres, or linear dimensions, shall be considered general information only. All assessments shall be against the real property itself which shall be liable to sale pursuant to law for any unpaid taxes or special ad valorem levies.
(a) 
Building permits. All persons authorized to issue building permits in the County, city, town, or village therein shall, not less frequently than once a month, deliver to the Director of Assessment a copy of such permits or a list thereof.
(b) 
County Clerk. There shall be designated in the office of County Clerk a person or persons who, in addition to other assigned duties, shall receive all conveyances of title for recording. Said person or persons shall have the primary responsibility for the determination that all additional forms required by law have been completed.
(c) 
Planning Boards. Planning Boards will indicate those maps that have had a final approval, whereupon the surveyor, engineer, or developer shall submit two paper prints of such subdivision to the Tax Map Section. One paper print shall be retained by the Tax Map Section pursuant to § 334 of the Real Property Tax Law. The second copy shall be returned to the developer with the original tax map number(s) of the tract(s) certified thereon.
(d) 
Highway officials. County, city, town, and village officials in charge of highway planning and appropriation of land therefor shall notify the Tax Map Geographic Information Systems Unit of any appropriation of lands for public rights-of-way. An appropriation map shall be prepared showing the extent to which lots as shown on the Tax Map are affected. A copy of such map shall be filed with the Tax Map Geographic Information Systems Unit at the time of appropriation.
(e) 
Town Supervisors, School Superintendents, Village Mayors, City Mayor. Any resolution that affects the levy or collection of taxes (including any exemptions from real property taxes that were passed by local option) shall be recorded with the Director of Assessment immediately, but no later than 30 days after passage.
The Director of Assessment shall annually complete the tentative assessment roll, and cause a copy thereof to be prepared by the first day of May.
The Director shall forthwith cause a notice, the contents of which are hereinafter set forth, to be published once in the official newspaper(s) of the County of Tompkins and/or if no newspaper has been designated the official newspaper, in a newspaper having general circulation in such city or town, on or before the eighth day of May.
The city, town, or village clerk shall cause a copy of the published notice to be posted on the sign board maintained for the posting of legal notices at the entrance of the clerk's office for the city, town, or village.
Such notice shall state: that the tentative assessment roll has been completed; that a copy thereof has been left with the city, town, or village clerk at a specified place where it may be examined by any person until the day specified for the meeting of the County Board of Assessment Review; that a member of the professional staff of the Department of Assessment will be in attendance with such tentative assessment roll at a specified place during a specified period of at least four hours between nine o'clock in the morning and ten o'clock in the evening on a specified day or days after the first of May; that the Local Board of Assessment Review will meet to consider complaints in relation to assessments of real property; the place, date, and hours of such meeting, including at least three hours, not necessarily continuous, between nine o'clock in the morning and ten o'clock in the evening. Publication of such notice must occur at least one week before the day the Local Board of Assessment Review is required to meet to hear complaints.
Preliminary assessment-change notices may be mailed no sooner than one hundred twenty (120) days prior to the filing of the tentative assessment roll pursuant to § 510 of the NYS Real Property Tax Law. Additionally, following the filing of the tentative assessment roll between the first and fifth days of May, the Director of the Department of Assessment shall mail to each owner of real property a notice of any change in assessment thereof that has changed in value since the preliminary assessment roll or who filed an informal assessment review form, and whose assessment did not change as a result of the review. Failure to mail such notice or failure of the owner to receive the same shall not prevent the levy, collection, and enforcement of the payment of the taxes on such real property.
Complaints with respect to assessments may be filed in accordance with § 524 of the Real Property Tax Law with the Department of Assessment at any time prior to the meeting of the County Assessment Board of Assessment Review or at the time of such meeting. The meetings of said Board of Assessment Review shall be held on the fourth Tuesday of May.
Complainants shall file the prescribed form(s) as set forth by law specifying the respect in which the assessment complained of is illegal, erroneous, or unequal, which statement must be made by the person whose property is assessed, or by some person authorized by the owner to make such statement who has knowledge of the facts stated therein.
Pursuant to § C-4.01(a) and (b) and in accordance with § 525 of the Real Property Tax Law, the County Board of Assessment Review shall thereafter determine the final assessment of the real property of each complainant. Such assessment may be the same as or less than the original assessment, or, if determined to be illegal, the same shall be stricken from the roll. All changes in the tentative assessment roll made by the County Board of Assessment Review shall be entered on such roll on or prior to the 21st day of June.
The annual assessment rolls shall be finally completed and verified on or before the first day of July.
When the assessment roll has been completed, the Director of Assessment will appear before any officer of the County authorized by law to administer oaths and shall make and subscribe before such officer an oath in the following form:
"I,________________________, Director of Assessment, do depose and swear that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the foregoing final assessment roll conforms in all respects to the tentative assessment roll with the exception of changes made by the Board of Assessment Review and assessments made by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance."
Such written or printed oath shall be a part of the assessment roll, signed by the Director of Assessment, and certified by the officer before whom this oath is sworn.
On or before the dates provided for in § C-4.02.8, the Director of Assessment shall file and thereafter keep on file in the Department of Assessment a certified copy of the completed and verified County assessment roll. At the same time, a certified copy of the completed and verified portion of the County assessment roll shall be filed in the appropriate offices of the city, town, and village clerks.
When the completed County assessment roll assessment roll shall have been filed as provided in § C-4.02.8, the Director of Assessment shall forthwith cause a notice, the contents of which are hereinafter set forth, to be published once in the official newspaper(s) of the County of Tompkins or, if no newspaper has been designated the official newspaper, in a newspaper having general circulation in such city or town. The clerks of the city, towns, and villages shall cause a copy of the published notice to be posted on the signboard maintained for the posting of legal notices at the entrance of the clerk's office for the city, town, or village.
Such notice shall state that the assessment roll has been finalized and a certified copy thereof has been filed in the office of the Director of Assessment and in the office of the city, town, or village clerk, and will be open for public inspection.
The assessment annually made and completed in and for the city and the towns by the Department of Assessment shall be the assessment for school-district tax purposes. The Director of Assessment shall, on or before the first day of July, prepare a separate assessment roll of property situated within school districts, which separate assessment roll shall be a duplicate of that part of the County assessment roll wholly or partly within each school district.
The assessment annually made and completed for the towns by the Department of Assessment shall be the assessment for village taxes to be levied in the following calendar year. The Director of Assessment shall, on or before the first day of July, prepare a separate assessment roll of property situated within such village, which separate assessment roll shall be a duplicate of that part of the County assessment roll wholly within each village.
(a) 
The Director of Assessment shall exercise and cause the provision of the appropriate sections of the Real Property Tax Law to be carried out regarding the petition of assessors for correction of the assessment roll.
(b) 
The Tompkins County Legislature likewise shall act in accordance with the provision of the Real Property Tax Law upon the petition of the Director of Assessment.
The Director of Assessment may correct any imperfect description in the city, town, and village or school district assessment rolls at any time before the lands are advertised for sale for the nonpayment of taxes or easements, and not thereafter.
(a) 
Annually on or before the 15th day of August, the Director of Assessment shall cause to be prepared assessment rolls for each and every special district that levies charges on a benefit basis.
(b) 
As each special district is initially approved by a municipality, a map or list showing the Tax-Map number of each parcel included in the special district shall be filed with the Tax Map Section.
(c) 
Thereupon the parcels so designated on the Tax Map shall be so coded to enable the preparation of special-district assessment rolls.
(d) 
When the special-district assessment rolls are finally completed as provided in Subdivision (a) of this section, they shall be delivered to the Town Clerk or other lawfully designated person, who shall open them to public review pursuant to § 239 of the Town Law.
(e) 
On or before the 15th day of November, all special-district assessment rolls shall be returned to the Director of Assessment to be included in and levied upon the town tax roll.
(f) 
The Tompkins County Legislature by resolution may authorize the Director of Assessment to perform and render any additional service on a time-and-materials basis, pertaining to the preparation and extension of assessment rolls for towns or special-district purposes levied on a benefit basis.
A member of the professional or clerical staff shall not engage directly or indirectly in the business of real-estate broker, or as an insurance agent or broker, nor shall be/she speculate or deal in real estate where prohibited by law, nor engage in the collection of data or appraise real estate within the boundaries of Tompkins County for a fee or any other form of payment. These restrictions shall not be construed to prevent the arms-length purchase or sale of real estate on the open market within the boundaries of Tompkins County.
No person shall be employed and/or assigned duties that directly relate to the appraisal of real property for purposes of taxation unless he/she meets the minimum qualification standards established by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
Such appraisal personnel shall attend courses of training and education prescribed by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance within the limits of the appropriation provided therefor.
All real property in the County of Tompkins shall be valued at a uniform percentage of fair market value and reviewed by the professional appraisal staff of the Department of Assessment under the guidance of the Director and the Assistant Director(s) of Assessment at time periods determined by resolution of the County Legislature.