I noted with interest that at their December 15, 1997, meeting the Owego Town Board accepted an agreement with the Chase Manhattan Bank, NA to reduce the property assessment on their Owego Branch by 35%. If my understanding is correct, I believe that the 35% figure they agreed to is reasonably consistent with the reduction recently afforded to Lockheed Martin on their facility which was formerly owned by the Federal Systems Division of IBM.

Anyone who doubts that property here in the Town of Owego was significantly devalued when the Federal Systems Division of IBM sold their facility need only try to sell some real estate here at prices that are anywhere near what they were back then. It now seems readily apparent that the de-valuation we all knew occurred is on the order of 35-40%.

In light of the obviously depressed price of real estate here it seems to me that the only fair thing for the Town of Owego authorities to do would be to reduce everybody's assessment by a factor of 35-40% then reset the tax rates as necessary. It seems like this would be the "politically correct" course of action.