CORRECTION: A previous version of this article had inaccurate information about the requirements of reassessments in New York State municipalities. The information has been updated to reflect that NYS does not require reassessments from any municipalities. 18 News has reached out to the state for more clarification on the rules of property assessment.

BATH, N.Y. (WETM) – Tensions in the Town of Bath reached a boiling point this week as more than 100 people turned out at a council meeting with concerns about property reassessments.

The Bath Town Council held its regular monthly meeting on April 10, 2023, and more than 100 people showed up for the three-hour affair. The topic on everyone’s minds: property assessments.

The Town recently did reassess properties, and many saw their home values spike, prompting the public outcry. However, as of May 2022, the NYS Tax site says Bath hasn’t conducted property value assessments since 2018, according to the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance.

The department says, “Unlike most states, New York State does not require municipalities to conduct reassessments. (However, the law does require that assessments be fair at a uniform percentage of value”.

Bath Village Mayor Mike Sweet said that some residents have seen their properties increase anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000, in turn driving up their taxes. He also explained that one piece of the puzzle is that new businesses—like Amazon and LP Solutions—and their workers are arriving in Bath, helping drive up property values.

As a result, after more than an hour of debate, the Bath Town Council voted to scrap the most recent reassessments and redo them.

But the spike in property value wasn’t the only thing Bath residents were annoyed with at the meeting. With the most people present at any council meeting in the last 20 years, the conference room and the hallway were filled, with Bath Police officers stationed at each door into the conference room.

However, people at the meeting couldn’t hear what was being discussed and were upset that it wasn’t held in a space that could properly hold that many attendees. Some wanted the meeting postponed and held in a larger space at a later date.