The Equalization Department advises and assists the County Board of Commissioners in equalizing real and personal property assessments on a County-wide basis. To comply with State directives, the Department conducts annual sales or appraisal studies for all classes of real property. Audits and record verifications are conducted for personal property. These studies are used to equalize assessed values for each class of real and personal property in the ten local units of government within Otsego County. The Department assists local assessing officers in the discovery, listing and valuation of properties for tax purposes, and the development and use of valuation standards and techniques for the assessment of property.

The Geographic Information System (GIS) was established in 1997. Prior to the establishment of our GIS Department, the County-wide tax mapping was handled by the Equalization Department. Since 1992, the Equalization Department is charged with the responsibility of assigning permanent parcel numbers and updating all mapping layers for the 27,000 parcels of real property in Otsego County.