BUFFALO (2008-03-26) Local property owners could save millions of dollars a year if Erie County adopts a unified assessment system.

County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz says a new audit shows that the dozens of assessing units in Erie County cost taxpayers more than $6 million a year, not including fringe benefits.

Poloncarz says a single countywide office would cut the cost of assessments in half and the state is offering to pay municipalities and the county an incentive.

The State's Office of Real Property Services calls New York's property tax system the most complex and confusing in the country.

Poloncarz says it is government reform that makes sense and it's a system that works elsewhere. He says the entire state of California has just 59 assessing units, compared to 30 in Erie County alone.

Copyright 2008 - WNED