Full house expected at finance board meeting to support mobile home tax fighter

Kevin Brigham, who is representing the mobile home community, will have plenty of moral support at Tuesday night meeting. (Courtesy photo),

ROCHESTER - A presentation by an advocate seeking reductions in the city's 2024 mobile home assessments at Tuesday nights' finance committee meeting will be followed by an agenda item to discuss an increase in the elderly/blind property tax exemptions for 2025.
The two items aren't necessarily connected, but Royal Crest Mobile Home Park administrator Kevin Brigham said it could be of some help to all city residents, including mobile home owners, who were socked with huge increases in reassessments and tax burdens for 2024.
Brigham is slated to give a 15-minute presentation during the board's public input where he'll explain what he sees as a flawed revaluation process that placed an unfair burden on mobile home owners, who on average saw their 2024 property tax burden double over 2023.
Brigham's arguments on why the city's revaluations are flawed was covered in detail in The Rochester Voice's Sunday edition. He said he's happy the Assessor's Office is urging the exemption increase, but noted any increase won't kick in till next year.
"On Tuesday I will urge that everyone file an abatement," Brigham said on Sunday.

It should be noted that any increase in the exemption would apply to all properties, not just mobile home owners, Marybeth Walker, the city's chief assessor, said today.
While Brigham said the additional increase is welcome, the fact of the matter is that mobile home owners were unfairly targeted in the recent revaluations that saw their assessments often tripled while their property tax doubled or worse.
Meanwhile, most single family dwellings in the city saw an overall property tax decrease.
Brigham said he expects a packed house of mobile home owners and supporters at Tuesday's meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. in City Council chambers at City Hall.
While Brigham will be given all the time he needs to make his presentation, he doesn't know if there will be any give and take between himself and finance board members.
"Even if we don't discuss the issue during public input I hope to speak with them after the meeting toward some kind of resolution," he said.
Walker noted that abatements are determined by an owner's age and they are treated equally across the board, whether they live in a single family residence, a condo or a mobile home.