Property Tax Grievance in Westchester County, and How Property Taxes Are Split at Closing

In every Westchester town, the deadline to challenge your property assessment (a “grievance”) is the third Tuesday in June: June 16, 2026 and June 15, 2027. The six cities set their own dates. Three of them, Yonkers, White Plains and New Rochelle, take complaints between November and February instead.

The county itself doesn’t assess property or send tax bills. Each of the six cities and 19 towns keeps its own assessment list (the “roll”), hears its own grievances and collects its own taxes, including the county’s share.

The dates matter when a home is sold. Taxes are split between seller and buyer by the period each bill covers. A grievance filed by the seller often lowers bills the buyer will pay. This guide covers Westchester County only. For Nassau and Suffolk, see property tax grievance on Long Island.

Who assesses Westchester property

The county’s Tax Commission says it “does not establish individual property assessments” or collect taxes. Those jobs are “carried out individually by towns, cities and villages throughout the county” (Westchester County Tax Commission). The county’s Finance Department sends one tax warrant (an order directing it to collect the county tax) to each of the 25 cities and towns. They bill the county’s share along with their own taxes and “guarantee the full amount to the county government” (Westchester County Finance, Taxes and Liens).

A property in a village is on the town’s roll for town, county and school taxes. Which government covers an address, and which villages bill separately, is explained in Westchester cities, towns and villages.

In most of the county, the assessed value is not the market value. The state measures how each roll compares with market value using an equalization rate. A rate of 100 means the place assesses at full market value (NYS Tax Department, equalization rates). The levels vary widely:

Dividing an assessment by the residential assessment ratio gives the market value it implies. In Peekskill, $8,900 divided by 1.78% is $500,000. That is how an owner checks whether the assessment implies a market value that is too high.

Grievance dates by city and town

Place Tentative roll Grievance deadline Final roll
Yonkers Nov. 1 Nov. 1 to 15 Apr. 10
White Plains Jan. 1 Jan. 21 Mar. 1
New Rochelle Feb. 1 3rd Tues. Feb. Apr. 1
Mount Vernon June 1 3rd Tues. June Aug. 1
Peekskill June 1 3rd Tues. June Aug. 15
City of Rye June 1 3rd Tues. June Sept. 15
All 19 towns June 1 3rd Tues. June Sept. 15

The tentative roll is the draft list of assessments; the final roll is the one taxes are based on. Source: Westchester County, Key Assessment Dates, which lists every town, including Bedford, Cortlandt, Greenburgh, Mamaroneck, Mount Pleasant, New Castle, Ossining, Scarsdale and Yorktown. Local sources confirm the dates:

  • Towns. Greenburgh (Assessment Calendar), Cortlandt (Town Assessor, which gives June 16, 2026) and Somers (Assessor). In Somers the complaint must reach the assessor’s office by 2 p.m. on Grievance Day, or the review board before its hearing hours end.
  • Yonkers. Owners can ask the City Assessor for an informal review. Complaints go to the Board of Assessment Review from November 1 to 15 (Yonkers Assessment Department). Hearings run from late January to mid-February (Yonkers Assessment Calendar).
  • White Plains. Complaints are accepted January 1 to 21, and the board meets January 21, 2027 (White Plains).
  • New Rochelle. Under a 2025 change to the city charter, hearings start the third Tuesday of February (February 16, 2027) (New Rochelle Charter). Grievances filed in June are no longer on time there. The roll dates in the table come from the county; the online charter still shows June 1 and August 1, so the city assessor is the place to confirm them.
  • Peekskill lists June 15, 2027 (city dates page). The City of Rye board meets on the third Tuesday in June (Rye Board of Assessment Review).

The complaint is filed on state form RP-524 with the assessor or the board of assessment review. Villages that keep their own rolls for village taxes run separate calendars, and some hold grievance days in February.

Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR)

If the board turns you down, you can ask for Small Claims Assessment Review, a review handled through the state court system (state law):

  • It is open to one-, two- and three-family houses that the owner lives in and that are used only as homes.
  • If the property’s equalized value (its value after the equalization rate is applied) is over $450,000, you can’t ask for a cut of more than 25% of the assessed value.
  • The fee is $30.
  • The deadline is 30 days after the final roll is filed. In a Westchester town, with a September 15 final roll, that means mid-October.

In Westchester, petitions are filed online through NYSCEF, the state court e-filing system, with Westchester County Supreme Court as the court and “Small Claims Assessment Review” as the case type. Copies must be delivered within ten days of filing (Westchester County Clerk, SCAR Petitions).

Because final roll dates differ, the SCAR deadline in Yonkers or White Plains falls in spring, not October. Larger and commercial properties use a full court case instead, called a tax certiorari proceeding.

When a grievance actually changes a bill

In a Westchester town, a grievance doesn’t change this year’s bills. School districts, the town and the county all tax based on the town’s final roll from the year before (state tax opinion).

A grievance filed by June 16, 2026 changes the September 15, 2026 final roll. That roll sets:

  • the town and county bill due in April 2027
  • the school bill for 2027-28, first half due September 2027

So an owner who grieves in June 2026 and sells in the fall of 2026 has lowered taxes the buyer will pay. A SCAR or tax certiorari decision that arrives after those bills are paid produces a refund. That refund raises the question of who keeps it.

Westchester tax bills and due dates

Towns. The town receiver of taxes collects town, county and, in most towns, school taxes. The Town of Cortlandt’s schedule is typical:

Bill Period covered Due without penalty
Town and county Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 Apr. 30
School, 1st half July 1 to June 30 Sept. 30
School, 2nd half Same Jan. 31

Sources: Town of Cortlandt, Tax Collection & Penalty Schedule; the state law setting the town tax year; the school tax year per the state tax opinion above.

  • Cortlandt mails the town and county bill by April 1 and the school bill by September 1.
  • The county’s payment dates table shows April 30, September 30 and January 31 for Bedford, Greenburgh, Mamaroneck, New Castle and Ossining as well.
  • In Cortlandt, a late town and county payment costs 2% in May, rising to 12% by the following January. A late first-half school payment costs 2% in October.

Villages bill their own tax on their own tax year. It starts June 1 unless the village board picked another date (state village law and a related provision). Pleasantville’s village tax is due in June and can be paid in two parts, by July 1 and December 31 (Village of Pleasantville).

Cities each run their own schedules. White Plains and Mount Vernon bill county tax by April 30. White Plains city and school taxes are due July 31 and January 31. Yonkers collects city and school taxes in three parts, in July, October and January, with dates that move with the City Council’s tax levy (county payment dates table). Confirm a city’s current dates with its tax office before relying on them.

Exemptions that don’t pass to the buyer

STAR exemptions can’t be transferred to a newly bought home. Buyers who bought after 2015 must register for the STAR credit instead, with a combined income limit of $500,000 (NYS STAR FAQs). The seller’s exemption can stay on the buyer’s first school bill.

Senior and veterans exemptions are granted on application. They end when the home passes to someone who doesn’t qualify. A buyer who qualifies must apply by the local taxable status date, which is May 1 in most Westchester towns (Key Assessment Dates).

How taxes are split at a Westchester closing

No law sets how taxes are split at closing. The contract of sale does. New York home contracts typically split real estate taxes as of midnight before the closing date, based on the period each tax covers. The seller bears the tax through the day before closing and the buyer from closing on, no matter who paid or will pay the bill. In Westchester, three or four separate tax periods can be running at once.

Hypothetical. A house in a village inside a Westchester town closes November 16, 2026. The seller is responsible through November 15. The split is figured by the day over a 365-day year.

Tax Amount Seller paid Seller’s days Credit to seller
Town and county 2026 $8,000 $8,000 319 $1,008.22
School 2026-27 $20,000 $10,000 138 $2,438.36
Village 2026-27 $5,000 $5,000 168 $2,698.63

The village tax year starts June 1.

  • Town and county. The seller paid in April for the whole calendar year, so the buyer repays the 46 days from November 16 to December 31.
  • School. The seller’s share for July 1 to November 15 is $7,561.64, but the seller paid the $10,000 first half. The buyer will pay the January second half and owes the seller the $2,438.36 difference.
  • Village. The seller paid for the year starting June 1, and the buyer repays 197 days.

In total, the buyer credits the seller $6,145.21 at closing.

Move the closing to August 14, 2026, before the school bill exists, and the seller owes the buyer for July 1 to August 13 on a bill the buyer will pay in September. Contracts usually say how to split a tax that hasn’t been billed yet, often using the prior year’s tax.

When a grievance is pending at closing

By default, whoever owns the house when the lower bills arrive gets the benefit of a lower assessment. A refund of taxes already paid is different. No tax law says whether the seller or buyer gets it.

Contracts and riders deal with it. They can cover who keeps refunds for periods before closing, whether the buyer must cooperate with a case the seller started, how a tax representative’s contingency fee is shared, and whether a refund for the year of closing is itself split. SCAR is limited to owner-occupied homes, which can affect whether a seller’s petition can continue after the sale.

What the title company’s tax search shows

The tax search reports what each collecting office shows as due, paid or late on the property. Open taxes are paid or credited at closing, and the title policy lists the taxes shown in the search as exceptions, meaning the policy does not cover them (title search and title report). In Westchester the search has to reach the town receiver or city and, for a village property, the village; see Westchester municipal searches. In Westchester the title premium includes the tax search for one tax lot (details below).

Unpaid taxes stay with the city or town that billed them. In Cortlandt, unpaid prior-year taxes are combined and become a lien on July 1. Property with taxes unpaid after 21 months can be foreclosed (Cortlandt schedule). Cities and towns may also hold tax lien sales (Westchester County Finance). How sold liens and redemption (paying off a sold lien) work is covered in property tax lien sales in New York.

The tax search doesn’t show a pending grievance or SCAR petition, an exemption about to come off, or a refund in process. Those come from the seller and the assessor.

Details for attorneys and title professionals

  • Why towns use the third Tuesday in June. The statewide default grievance day is the fourth Tuesday in May, but it gives way to a city charter, a county tax act or other special law (state law). Westchester towns follow the county’s own tax law. A state opinion describes its calendar: tentative roll filed June 1 and final roll filed September 15 (state tax opinion). The state’s grievance form instructions say that “in Westchester County, town boards of assessment review meet on the third Tuesday in June” (RP-524 instructions).
  • New Rochelle. The 2025 charter change set a December 1 taxable status date and February hearings. The online charter text still shows a June 1 tentative roll and August 1 final roll, while the county lists February 1 and April 1.
  • Tax search in the premium. Westchester is in TIRSA Zone 2, where the premium includes the tax search for one tax lot and one tax continuation (TIRSA rate manual).

Official sources

Related guides

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