Lakewood Village Mayor updated trustees about the decrease in school tax bills. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

LAKEWOOD – Mayor Randy Holcomb smiled Monday as he updated the Lakewood Village Board of Trustees about a school tax rate decrease.

The village is in the Southwestern Central School District and Holcomb said he is glad to see the lower tax bills.

“We now have our new assessments and our new first school tax, and the rate is definitely lowered, which I’m very glad to see, because I was not sure that was going to happen,” Holcomb told trustees.

The old tax rate was $22.49 per 100,000 of assessed value, and the new rate now is $12.27, Holcomb noted.

“They did drop the tax rate by 10 bucks, which is a good thing. However, there’s a lot of issues going on with the new assessments that are sent out,” Holcomb added.

Recently, the town of Busti, which includes the village, went through a property reassessment. Many village, and town residential property owners challenged their new assessments by filing grievances with the town.

93NYRPT LLC, the owner of 67 Chautauqua Avenue, Lakewood, was reassessed at $175,000, with the property owner saying the property is overassessed by $90,695. The property is an income-generating property, according to the tax challenge.

Edward McCague, a former Lakewood Village Board member, is also challenging the new assessment on his family’s home at 12 Park Lane, Lakewood. The home includes three lots that have been reassessed at $827,800, with the McCagues arguing the value of the three properties shouldn’t be more than $500,000 total.

“Your petitioner is aggrieved by said erroneous assessments and will be required to pay a greater amount and proportion of taxes than it would be required to pay if the said assessments had been just and equal, and that your petitioner will be injured thereby,” the assessment challenge stated.

Some commercial property owners are also unhappy with the assessments. In an Aug. 1 Post-Journal article, both Wal-Mart and the owner of the Chautauqua Mall also challenged their assessments.

Walmart asked state Supreme Court Justice Grace Hanlon to reduce the store’s 2025-26 tax assessment from the $15 million that is part of the town of Busti’s property reassessment to $11,250,000.

Chautauqua Mall Realty Holdings LLC has filed an Article 7 challenge to its assessment by the town of Busti, which is undergoing a property reassessment that has upset many town residents. It is also the second such request the mall has made since the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the mall’s court filing on July 2, its attorneys asked for a decrease from the proposed $7.825 million for the three parcels that make up the entire mall property to $800,000.

The property reassessment Busti is undergoing was foreseen by Hanlon when she ruled in 2023 that the mall’s property assessment should be reduced from $6 million to $4,020,000 through 2026. At the time, she wrote that if the town goes through a property reassessment the mall’s property value will use a $6 million fair market value multiplied by the new town equalization rate for the year the revaluation happens.

Court records show that in 2020 the mall’s assessment was $9,260,000, and that amount was reduced to $5,772,000. In 2021 the assessment was $9,260,000, and it was reduced to $5,592,000, and in 2022 the assessment was $9,260,000, and it has been reduced to $4,965,000. The 2023 tax assessment from the Busti tax assessor was $6 million — an amount mall officials said was too high even though the mall was purchased for $6 million in September 2022.

Trustees also approved a special-use application for a duplex home construction at Winchester Road and First Street. Lakewood resident Ben Ludwig owns the property, and said it will not be used as a short-term rental. The matter now will go before the village Zoning Board of Appeals.

In other business:

– The board approved the village-wide Fall Fest organized in collaboration with Taryn Wilson-Wheatley, village merchants, and the Lakewood Community Development Corp. from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Oct. 4. The fest will be on Chautauqua Avenue. Road closures will include Chautauqua Avenue between Terrace Avenue and Summit Street, and between Summit Street and Third Street.

– The board also approved new office hours for the village clerk, and treasurer. The office hours are scheduled for 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Trustee Nancy Jones opposed the resolution, and said someone needs to be in the office to field phone calls, and to answer questions, in case someone walks into the village offices.