JOHNSBURG, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Officials say fairness and equity in assessing the town of Johnsburg are long overdue. Residents expressed concern in a Tuesday town meeting about how this will affect the taxes they pay on their property.

“The meeting last night was impactful,” said Town Supervisor Andrea Hogan. “The board really heard what the community was saying.”

Johnsburg, with 3,600 parcels, is in the process of reassessing property values. This comes as higher value homes and townhouses are coming to the ski-town community nestled in the southeast Adirondacks.

“When we raise an assessment or when we re-evaluate an assessment, what we’re looking to do is establish fairness across all the properties in town. That means that everything‘s been looked at with an equal eye, and is valued according to a standard,” Hogan explained.

The process is ongoing. While many towns hire a company to complete a revaluation, the town board in Johnsburg chose to do this in-house. Hogan said this is saving the town somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000. The town has an assessor who they’re encouraging residents to meet with.

“The assessor does her job. We’re now in what’s called ‘formal consultations,’” Hogan said. “People need to come in and talk to her and understand their assessment, and why it is what it is.”

If residents don’t agree with the assessor, Hogan said there’s another process afterward. A board of assessment review convenes a panel of citizens to look over the values and discuss with the property owners what they think their value should be.

Right now, officials say the assessments are preliminary. A tentative roll will be filed on May 1 and the usual grievance period will follow.