Syracuse City Board of Assessment Review Meeting - February 9, 2026
Syracuse City Board of Assessment Review Meeting - February 9, 2026
The Board of Assessment Review met on February 9, 2026, to hear two assessment grievances: a residential property at 104 Coffee Drive and multiple railroad parcels owned by the New York Susquehanna and Western Railroad. No formal votes were taken; the board expects to issue decisions after further review and a counter offer from the city.
Discussion Items
- 104 Coffee Drive: This one-bedroom, 568-square-foot rental was purchased by the owner about ten years ago for $10,000 with no major improvements. The current tentative assessed value is $56,000 (full market value $107,692). The petitioner believes the assessed value should be $15,600 (full market value $30,000). City assessor Ann acknowledged the property is very small and that the city's commissioner Matt is familiar with the case. The board will confer with Matt and send a notice to the owner by the first week of April.
- Railroad Properties: Nolan Kakoris, representing the New York Susquehanna and Western Railroad, presented grievances on over 30 parcels. Under New York law, railroad assessments are capped by a state-determined ceiling. The petitioner argues that the actual full market value, based on an income capitalization approach using a 9% capitalization rate, is significantly lower than the current tentative assessments. For example, at 522 Renwick and Sizer Street, the current assessed value is $22,400, but the petitioner claims a fair market value of $3,584 (assessed value $1,864). City assessor Melanie noted that the city is aware of the pending litigation on these parcels and indicated that a counter offer will be made during the hearing session. The board discussed the possibility of separating income from billboards on some parcels for future assessments.
Key Outcomes
- No decisions were reached on either agenda item.
- For 104 Coffee Drive, the city will confer with Commissioner Matt and notify the owner by early April.
- For the railroad parcels, the city plans to issue a counter offer before the end of the hearing session. The parcels remain in litigation.
Meeting Transcript
City Board of Assessment Review. Today is uh Monday, February ninth. And um just want to remind everybody that uh the uh meetings are uh can be viewed live on YouTube and also you can go back and uh watch the recording of it as well. Um with that, let me just do uh roll call. Uh, my name is Joe Saya. Uh and uh we've got our first uh petitioner. Yeah, if you want to do you want to come up. Okay. State your name for the record. And Gallagher. Do you both affirm to tell the truth and give accurate information to the best of your ability? Yes. I do. I do. Okay, very good. Okay, so again, um we've got 104 coffee drive. And let me just read in some information and then uh we'll go from there. We got the petition uh here. Um this is a one-bedroom house. Let me just get a little information. Uh current tentative assessed value, $56,000. Um a big deal. We don't have land value on here. Does anybody have that? I do not do not have land, okay. Uh actually, to tell you the truth, there is no land values at all. Yeah, yeah. That would be uh, yeah, that would be good. Uh okay, very good. Um so we'll come back to that. Um there would be a full market value of 107 6 107 692 based on the uh $56,000 uh tentative assessment. Uh petitioner believes the assessed value uh should be $15,600 uh based on a $30,000 uh full value full market value. Uh let me just see if I can pick anything off here. Um over ten years ago it was purchased for ten thousand dollars. Um that's about it for the most part as far as what we have there, and so this is uh probably a rental for you, and so you bought it about ten years ago. Um major improvements? None at all. Okay, uh they haven't updated the kitchen or the bath, did uh put a little fence around it other than that. Okay, and so it you it's rented with uh just some particulars on there. Six and a quarter, six and a quarter, and then I assume they pay their own utilities. Okay, so six and a quarter, but it's a one-bedroom uh uh uh living room. Um when you come in is a kitchen, in the living room, and then the bedroom in the bath square footage. I don't even think it's over six hundred square feet. Okay. Yeah, we yeah, we have five sixty-eight. Five sixty eight real tiny place. Okay, the street is like a driveway. Coffee is like a driveway, and then you got my house on the right and another house on the left. Okay. Um was this uh uh reassessed.
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