Jesse Robbins, Busti town supervisor, told those who spoke during a lengthy Busti Town Board meeting on Monday that the ball is out of the town board’s hands at this point. Robbins addressed the more than 20 individuals who appeared at the town board meeting to vent their frustrations regarding the recent individual property assessments done by the town assessor’s office.

‘We are not allowed to influence the assessor,” Robbins said at the beginning of Monday’s meeting. “Our hands are tied. You’ve got to follow the appeal process if you believe your assessment is wrong.”

However, despite Robbins and Town Attorney Joel Seachrists’s repeated preamble before speakers addressed the town board, it had little effect on redirecting the residents’ anger regarding the town’s current assessment and the amount of time that has passed since the last property reassessment in Busti.

“The last time we had an assessment was ten years ago,” said Busti resident Sharon Witchy. “Why did you wait so long to notify the community that the assessments would happen?”

From left, Busti Town Board Member Doug Brown, Town Supervisor Jessie Robbins, Board Members Todd Hanson and Paul Gustafson, and Town Attorney Joel Seachrist conduct town business. PJ photo by Christopher Blakeslee

Robbins reiterated that the meeting was a town board business meeting, that those who don’t agree with their property assessments should follow the grievance procedures attached to the assessment sent to them in the mail, and that again, he and the town board members are prohibited by law from interfering with the assessors’ lawful duties.

Busti resident Phil Cammarata asked if the town could implement the assessed rate increase over three years and wondered how the assessor came up with numbers that doubled and tripled, in some cases, a person’s property value.

Robbins responded again that he and the board were not allowed to interfere with the assessor’s duties and that anyone with issues with the assessor’s final property evaluation should follow the grievance procedures attached to their individual assessment. A copy of the grievance procedures was also on the back table at the meeting.

Property owners can submit information for review by the town assessor. That information must be mailed to the Assessor’s Office, 125 Chautauqua Ave., Lakewood, NY, 14750, and postmarked no later than April 15. Busti residents can also attend the Busti Assessment Grievance Day meeting held from 4 to 8 p.m. May 29 at the town offices at 125 Chautauqua Ave., Lakewood.

The taxable assessment change means tax rates will change for residents depending on what happened to their property assessment, but the tax levy (the amount the municipality raises through taxes) stays the same until the next budget is passed. Robbins said Busti has had a flat tax rate for several years, meaning there has been no tax rate increase, and the town has been operating in ‘black.’

In other business:

– The board received a letter from Town Justice William Geary notifying them that he officially retired on April 7. – Robbins informed the board that Busti should not financially support the Chautauqua Lake Association (CLA) request for financial support. A motion carried unanimously to deny the CLA request.

-The board voted unanimously not to join a planned lawsuit against the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) filed by the Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association ( CLPOA) regarding the NYS DEC Wetlands regulations.

As previously reported in a March 18 Post-Journal Story, Jim Wehfritz, Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association director, said during a public meeting on March 15 that the CLPOA will file a lawsuit challenging the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Regulation, which went into effect January 1.

“The Wetlands Regulations are not appropriate for a 13,000-acre lake with 150-plus years of shoreline development and hundreds of millions of dollars of private investment,” Wehrfritz said.