If your property is located in the City of Watertown your application must be received by December 1st for the exemptions to be applied to the following July City Tax, Oct School Tax and January County Tax (one year and one month from deadline).
If you are outside the City of Watertown and in Jefferson County all exemptions need to be filed by March 1st in the assessor's office of the Township in which the property is located. If you do not know which Town the property is in you may call the Jefferson County Real Property Office at (315)785-3074
CAUTION:
In order to receive a single bill the parcels must be combined into one.
This is accomplished by the filing of a deed with either a single description of the parcel as a whole or some indication that the intent of the deed is to combine the separate parcels into one.
CAUTION: once this is done there is only a single parcel and it would not be legal to transfer ownership of one part of the parcel without subdivision approval. Any existing or new mortgages would also have to be on the entire parcel.
As a courtesy to the new owner of the property, the City Assessor would ask that you either forward the bill to them or return it to the return address on the bill.
Only one bill is sent per property so if you received a bill, then the rightful owner did not.
The company handling your escrow account will notify us of the change. If there is a bill due soon after the change and you have not received the bill contact either the Comptroller’s office or the School District tax collector for a duplicate. It is always the responsibility of the taxpayer to pay any outstanding bill due regardless of the fact that it may have been sent to the wrong place.
A signed request in writing sent to the assessment department is required. The reason for the signed request is in order to avoid attempts at fraud or harassment. The assessment department prepares the County, City and School tax bills so only one notice is required.
In the City of Watertown, the City Tax bills are issued July 5th with payment due by August 5th, Watertown City School District taxes are issued October 1st with payment due November 1st, Jefferson County taxes are issued Jan 15th and due February 15.
Outside of the City of Watertown these dates are different and you should contact the Jefferson County Real Property Office at 315-785-3074 for the proper dates
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