2025 Reassessment Project

                                            Welcome to the City of Buffalo's Reassessment Project

The City of Buffalo remains committed to providing fair and equitable property assessments through regular property assessment evaluations. Since the last revaluation project was implemented in 2020, our city continues to see historic growth and increases in property values, and it is important to conduct regular reviews to ensure all properties are assessed accurately. As City leaders strive to keep Buffalo an inclusive and equitable city, regular reassessments ensure that the property tax burden is distributed equitably and that all property owners are paying their fair share of the tax burden.

Since our last reassessment project, market activity and fluctuations have resulted in current assessments being no longer reflective of the full market value of many properties. Since property values appreciate and/or depreciate at different rates, these changes, if left unchecked, result in inequitable assessments. This inequity could lead to property owners paying more or less than their fair share of the tax burden. The goal of the reassessment project is to establish uniform, fair and equitable assessments for all real property types. 

To assist our department with the task of reassessing nearly 94,000 parcels, the Department of Assessment & Taxation has contracted with KLW Municipal, Inc. and Emminger, Newton, Pigeon, & Magyar to complete a full reassessment of all real property in the city. Over the next year and a half, the department and the contractors will be reviewing property information, market data, and developing new assessed values for all city properties. 

Accurate property inventory/information is vital to an accurate assessment. Commencing in February and continuing today, the contractors have been reviewing and collecting information on your property. This first step of data collection is reviewing the existing inventory for every property and comparing it to what is visibly available for each improved property. Exterior physical characteristics of properties in the city such as the size, age, condition, and quality are updated in the CAMA system. This reviewed and updated information will be utilized in the valuation of all properties.

The next step is to provide each improved property owner with a data mailer that displays the inventory that we have for their residence or building. All initial data collection is from the exterior of the residence or building. We request that all improved property owners review the data that we have and inform us of any errors that may exist. Accurate inventory data will help ensure accurate valuations for each property. 

The final step is the collection of market facts in the form of sales and rental data for appropriate property types. The market facts are quantified, sorted, and analyzed. Once this important step is completed, valuation production starts. The gathered and analyzed market data is utilized to determine the full market value of each property in the city. The full market value is the amount that a property should sell for in an open and competitive market with buyers and sellers each acting in their own best interest.

This reassessment project is being deployed in the City of Buffalo to ensure that properties are fairly and accurately assessed, based on their current market value. The primary reason for this is to ensure that the tax burden is equitably distributed across the entire tax base.  The results of the project will be effective for the 2025 Final Assessment Roll.  The new assessed values will be used to populate the July 2025 Property Tax Bill. As with many reassessment projects, we anticipate that property taxes will lower for a third of the city, stay the same for a third of the city, and rise for a third of the city.  

The Department of Assessment and Taxation has organized public information meetings in each Council district to discuss the Reassessment Project and its timeline. These meetings are intended to be informative and educational in nature, to provide residents with a better understanding of how the reassessment process works. The public meetings are open to all residents, and we encourage everyone to attend. The meetings will be an opportunity for residents to ask questions and provide feedback on the reassessment process. You can find the locations of the information sessions here..  

More information about the reassessment project can be found by using the links on the left of this page.