People in Cheektowaga are upset over the town-wide reassessment of their homes’ property values. They packed an information session Tuesday trying to get answers on why their property taxes are going up. But many say their questions were not answered.

“It’s just no rhyme or reason for it,” said Bob Lyons, who’s lived in Cheektowaga for 27 years.

It was standing room only Tuesday evening as Cheektowaga residents packed the town’s senior center to voice their concerns about the town’s residential reassessments.

“It’s preposterous that in one year my taxes would go up 63 percent,” said Lyons.

The reassessment process took about a year to complete. The firm of Emminger, Newton, Pigeon & Magyar Inc. conducted the home reassessments for the town by looking at properties and taking pictures of them from the road.

“We analyze the properties by neighborhood and analyze property values, so we do a mass model appraisal model which comes up, looks at every property individually, comes up with plus and minus adjustments and therefore adjusts the property for the values and then the values are sent out to the owners,” explained John Zukowski, the vice president of Emminger, Newton, Pigeon & Magyar Inc.

That information was sent out to homeowners in the town, leaving many in shock with the results.

“My house is not worth $90,000, I live one street away from the Buffalo borderline,” said Virginia Zulatowski, a Cheektowaga resident.

Officials with the appraisal firm and the town held an informational session to go over the reassessment process and inform the community about how they can challenge their assessed values. One of those ways includes filling out a review application and setting up a one-on-one meeting with the appraisal firm.

“We don’t live in Beverly Hills, we don’t live in California, we don’t live in New York City, we don’t live in Nassau County in New York, we live in Cheektowaga, New York, and the prices on these taxes are outrageous,” Lyons said.

Town Supervisor Diane Benczkowski released a statement opposing the new assessments. “I knew the residents and businesses would be negatively impacted by artificially high property values caused by an overheated housing market,” she said in part.

“Give us a decent appraisal to keep the people who are in that neighborhood,” Zulatowski said.

For those who missed the information session Tuesday night, there will be another chance to discuss the assessment, during a meeting on March 14 at 10 a.m. at the Cheektowaga Senior Center.