Assessments for several properties in the town of Busti – in particular the village of Lakewood – are being challenged in state Supreme Court.

Assessment challenges aren’t uncommon, but challenges that reach court locally tend to be over commercial properties rather than residential properties. Property values around Chautauqua Lake generate roughly a quarter of property taxes for the entire county. Most property assessment challenges are heard locally by a Board of Assessment Review. The course cases filed recently have been filed by property owners unhappy with the response they received from the Board of Assessment Review as new property assessments were finalized as the town of Busti underwent its first property reassessment since 2014.

This year, as the town of Busti undertook a property reassessment that includes the village of Lakewood, several Lakewood homeowners are taking their case before state Supreme Court Justice Grace Hanlon.

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.

“Said assessment of said property is unequal with other property in the town of Busti in that the assessment has been made at a higher proportionate valuation than the assessments of other property on the said assessment roll … and the assessment of such real property generally on the same assessment rolls is at a rate not exceeding 65% of true value,” the owner’s tax assessment challenge states. “Such inequality exists not only in specific instances, but generally throughout the assessment rolls of said town of Busti …”

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 states.

Robert and Kelly DuBois are seeking a $700,000 reduction on the $2.2 million assessment on their 34 Sunset Ave., Lakewood, home. The DuBois’ had previously challenged their property assessment before the reassessment as well. They claim that the property is overvalued, is valued at a higher percentage of value than other properties in the town and village, that the new assessment is a higher proportionate valuation than other taxable properties of the same type or classification, and that the assessment doesn’t account for applicable exemptions or agreements regarding PILOT agreements.

“Petitioner is aggrieved by this unjust, unequal, excessive, illegal and erroneous assessment, resulting in an excessive and disproportionate tax burden,” the assessment challenge states. “A reduction in the assessment is necessary to align with the property’s fair market value.”

Yet another Lakewood property – the 265 E. Terrace Ave. lot owned by Kenneth and Nancy Wray – has been assessed at $325,000, with the Wrays asking for a reduction of $125,000 to $200,000. The property was purchased in October 2020 for $147,000, while the Wrays said in court documents that two neighboring properties sold for $200,000 in 2022 and $249,000 in 2022. The $200,000 property has roof issues and no foundation while the $249,000 sale is a smaller property that has better quality lakefront.

The Wrays’ documentation is also the only one of the Lakewood assessment challenges that mentions new wetland restrictions from the state DEC. Wray has been embroiled in a permitting battle with the DEC over a breakwall on his property at 271 Terrace Ave., Lakewood. Wray has a vertical breakwall, and the DEC wants something different – a slanted riprap stonewall – which it said will help with erosion. The DEC said Wray has to tear down his current breakwall, and then resubmit an application to the DEC for a new one. The DEC said the vertical breakwall, at 271 E. Terrace Ave., is in violation of Article 15 Part 608 which focuses on the use and protection of waters, encompassing regulations for disturbances to protected streams, dams docks, moorings, and excavation/fill in navigable waters.

Wray constructed a breakwall because he said he received a permit from Army Corps of Engineers, but DEC officials said that the Army permit was not valid because it wasn’t issued by the DEC. Wray, 72, is choosing to appeal the DEC’s ruling, and said the DEC is using him as an example. He said it may be a difficult process because of the new Freshwater Wetland Regulations that went into effect in January,

“This has been going on for four years,” Wray said. “They (DEC officials) could have said ‘Let’s solve this one way or another. Let’s come up with a solution that we can both live with.’ But no they said ‘pull it all out (and) do it all by hand.’ I’m 72 years old. That’s not going to happen.”

Morgan and Marlene Sample of Huntingdon, Pa., have also filed an assessment challenge in state Supreme Court over the new $1.5 million assessment on their Lake Street property in Lakewood. The Samples are asking their assessment be decreased by at least $250,000 to $1,250,000. The property had previously been assessed at $675,000.

“Petitioners assert and allege the respondents Assessor and Board of Assessments determination of assessed value was and is arbitrary and capricious,” attorney Stephen Sellstrom of Jamestown argued in the Samples’ court filing. “Petitioners verily believe that using the appropriate valuation criteria of the ‘willing buyer-willing seller with equal knowledge of the facts’ standard would result in a fair market valuation of $1,250,000 for the property.”

Homeowners aren’t the only ones unhappy. Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust #US01973, which owns the Lakewood Walmart, is asking Hanlon to reduce the new assessment of its 350 Fairmount Ave. property in Lakewood of $15 million. Walmart is asking its assessment to be decreased to $3,750,000 “and to a valuation proportionate to the assessments of other real property assessed on the same rolls for the same tax year by the same officers, so that equality of assessment will result, together with appropriate refunds and interest …” the assessment challenge filed in state Supreme Court states.

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, 2025, its attorneys are asking 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 state Supreme Court Justice Grace 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.