Tax map preparation and maintenance is a complex procedure consisting of many separate steps. It must be remembered, at all times, that the tax maps are the work of many persons with different abilities and different training over the course of several decades. Additionally, it was assumed in the original preparation of tax maps that they would be used
only for the purpose of creating and maintaining assessment rolls. It is assumed that the tax maps give a fair and accurate representation of the area, dimensions, and road frontage of the assessed parcels, however
there is no certification that the parcel is properly located. It is assumed that any discrepancies found in the tax maps will be corrected later in the assessment process.
It is the responsibility of property owners to know what they own and to inform our office of any discrepancies, so they may be investigated. At no time does the county perform field surveys or certify to property boundaries via the tax map.
Some of the tools utilized in the preparation and maintenance of the tax maps are:
Aerial photography
Photogrammetry is the art of taking aerial photographs and producing accurate maps from them. The tax maps are based upon controlled aerial photographs of the entire county taken to produce uniform results. The resulting orthophoto maps are tied to the New York State Plane Coordinate System and broken down into smaller maps, which are more convenient to physically handle, or are stitched together as a mosaic to handle in a digital environment.
Deed descriptions
The deed records and grantor/grantee indexes maintained by the County Clerk are analyzed by the tax mapper for boundary and size information. The most recent deeds to the assessed owners are used for this purpose and no title search is conducted for excepted parcels, boundary line agreements in the chain of title, or other factors that could change the recorded descriptions. With only a deed to go on, the mapper is at the mercy of the deeded description for up to date metes & bounds or survey plat descriptions to accurately represent the parcel upon the tax map. In the absence of such, best case judgment is utilized to map a parcel as accurately as possible.
Assessment rolls
The tax map and the assessment roll go hand in hand. The section, block, and lot numbers from the tax map become the identification number on the assessment roll and serve as a sufficient description to identify the parcel on the roll. As such, when a parcel is split or merged on the tax map, the resulting map information concerning size, location, and number are recorded on the assessment roll. As such, the assessment roll can also inform the tax map, as the inventory information that the assessor has from field study and data collection can help inform the boundary lines in the case where deed descriptions are insufficient.
Existing maps
All existing tax maps, assessor’s maps and filed maps should be justifiable against the tax map being assembled and the out-bounds of subdivisions should be set forth on tax maps. When a survey exists for a particular property, it is considered to be the highest authority on the boundaries of the property and the tax map should reflect the survey as much as could be expected. Understandably tax maps must make all tax parcels fit neatly and so discrepancies cannot be avoided completely.
