Property Tax Adjustments

[Joe Carnicelli]

Hi. I know someone who purchased a house and the property tax went up $500 a month over 3 years. Looking into this, I saw that they bought the house at $150k and the previous sale history was $99k. Over 3 years the local government changed its assessment of the value of the home to match $150k, instead of $99k, explaining the property tax hike. I think.

Does anyone know if this is a normal thing, that local governments slowly adjust the assessment for property tax to its most recent sale value. Does it also work in the opposite directions, say buying a house for  half its previous sale price?

I’m in New York State if that helps.