About LumeInsight and how we calculate
LumeInsight helps people buying a home in Central New York, and the agents who help them, see what a home will really cost in property tax. It is an independent service: it is not affiliated with any county, town, city, school district or New York State. Every number comes from official public records, and this page says exactly which ones and how they are combined.
Last reviewed October 22, 2026. Questions or corrections: lumeinsight@gmail.com.
Data sources
- Assessment rolls (2026): each parcel's assessed value, property class, school district, village, special districts, exemptions and the town's level of assessment (“uniform percent of value”), from the final rolls published by Oneida County and Madison County. Owner names are never stored or shown.
- Tax rates (2026): county and town rates, 2026-27 school and library rates and village rates per $1,000 of assessed value, from the rate sheets the counties publish, plus city rates from the cities where the county sheets don't include them.
- STAR: the state's published maximum 2026-27 STAR savings by school district and municipality (NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, updated April 23, 2026 and August 11, 2026 and April 22, 2026), and its STAR eligibility rules.
- Residential assessment ratios: New York State's 2025 ratios for each town and city (https://data.ny.gov/d/bsmp-6um6 (Residential Assessment Ratios: Beginning Rate Year 1982, updated 2026-04-23)).
- Grievance Day: the state's grievance procedures page and the City of Utica and City of Rome assessors.
- Maps, places and routes: OpenStreetMap-based data and routing.
We re-read the state's STAR tables, assessment ratios and the rules we quote from the official pages and compare them with what the site uses, and we load each year's new rolls and rate sheets when the counties publish them.
The tax bill for a new owner
For each levy (county, town or city, school, library, village) we multiply the parcel's taxable value as printed on the roll by the published rate per $1,000. Special districts (fire, water, sewer, lighting and others) are added where the district's rate is published, and flagged where it is not.
The bill a buyer will get removes the current owner's personal exemptions, which end with the sale: STAR, senior citizens, veterans and disability. Exemptions that belong to the land, such as agricultural ones, stay. A property owned by a government body or a nonprofit becomes taxable for a private buyer, so it is priced as fully taxable.
New York doesn't reassess a home because it sold, so the price doesn't change this bill.
Comparing towns and the budget page
To compare places fairly we use the effective rate: the combined rate per $1,000 times the town's level of assessment, which gives the tax as a share of market value. The yearly tax at a price is that price times the effective rate. It is what a home assessed at the town's level would pay, before special districts and exemptions. A specific home is billed on its own assessment.
When a town has revalued after its January and village levies were set, those rates apply to the earlier roll's level; we convert the assessment for those lines (in 2026, the Town of Augusta, from 33% to 100%). Villages that keep their own assessment roll (New Hartford and New York Mills) are handled the same way at the village's level.
STAR, the assessment check and closing
STAR: we show the state's maximum savings for the home's school district and town. New homeowners receive STAR as a credit check from the state after registering; it is not subtracted from the bill.
Assessment check: a fair assessment is about the market value times the state's residential assessment ratio for the town. At the price you enter we compare that with the actual assessment and flag a gap of more than 10%. We skip the check where the town's roll has moved more than 35% away from the ratio, which means the town reassessed since the state measured it.
Closing split: each tax is divided at the closing date over the period it covers (county and town: the calendar year; school: July to June; village: June to May), following the usual New York practice. Your attorney's closing statement has the real figures.
Limits
- Estimates, not tax bills. Rolls can contain errors, and a few special-district rates are not published.
- Rates change every year: county and town in January, school in late summer, villages in spring.
- The revaluation scenario shows what the bill would be if the town revalued; it is not a prediction that it will.
- Always confirm with the assessor and your attorney before relying on a figure.
Found something that looks wrong? Tell us and we will check it against the source and correct it.