William Maker, Jr. has been practicing in this field for over 20 years. He represents the Town of Mamaroneck in all of its tax certiorari litigation and serves as special counsel in tax certiorari matters for the City of Peekskill, the Town of North Castle, the Village of Mount Kisco and the Town of Rye. He successfully defended an appeal to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court, in Matter of Larchmont Pancake House v Bd. of Assessors (33 NY3d 228 [2019]), a case deemed so important that the International Council of Shopping Centers, a major trade organization, and the Stop and Shop Supermarket Company both intervened in the appeal on behalf of the opposing side and lost.
Tax certiorari is the process for reducing real estate taxes. The owner of any type of property can utilize tax certiorari to reduce his/her real estate taxes. It starts with an administrative procedure, commonly referred to as a “grievance”, before the Board of Assessment Review. Persons who go through the administrative review process and are dissatisfied with the outcome may commence a lawsuit in the Supreme Court.
Owners of one-two- or three- family, owner occupied homes used exclusively for residential purposes can avail themselves of the simplified Small Claims Assessment Review process. Mr. Maker usually completes Small Claims Assessment Review proceedings for clients, in less than a year so that by the time the next year’s taxes are sent out, the client can have the benefit of a lower assessment and therefore lower taxes.
Owners of other types of properties (commercial properties, apartment buildings, co-op boards and boards of managers of condominiums) cannot use the small claims procedure but with proper advocacy can achieve significant reductions in their real estate taxes.
The Firm is capable of handling your tax grievance but, due to volume of work, limits its tax certiorari practice to properties in Westchester County.
