FARMINGTON, N.Y. (WROC) — Some residents in Farmington are reaching out to News 8 after getting letters from the town doubling their property assessments. This came as a shock to one neighborhood there, which is now trying to get the town to think twice about the value of their homes.

One letter provided by a resident on Stonefield Lane shows a net change of over $300,000 in the property assessment. John Palmerini lives on the same street and got a letter similar to this on Thursday. 

“In effect, our assessment was doubled which doubles the taxes that we need to pay,” he said.

He currently pays over $10,000 per year in taxes. “And that will double to $20,000”, he said.

His neighbor Elizabeth Baker also got a letter in the mail. She claims her assessment is now twice as much. 

“So we’re all concerned that our taxes are going to double. They are already high,” she said.

Baker said there have been five sales here over the past two years, with the same house going twice. “The house happened to be the most expensive house in the neighborhood,” she said.

That home according to the neighbors has an indoor pool, deluxe ‘man cave’, and other amenities not usually found here. The value of that they feel, caused all of these homes to skyrocket.  

Town Supervisor Peter Ingalsbe told News 8 that just because their assessments went up, does not mean their town property taxes will go up. The last time Farmington did a total re-evaluation was in 2019. He said the values are a direct reflection of the tight real estate market where people are paying thousands of dollars over assessed values. He said the 2023 tax rate sits at $1.00 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Baker said all these taxes are driving her and others out of the state. “We’re looking at going back to South Carolina. The taxes there are probably about a quarter of what we’re spending,” she said.

Ingalsbe did want to remind residents that the tax rate was kept steady for about seven years, and has actually been lowered twice.

The residents did say they plan on pushing back and will be forming a group to call into question these amounts.