HERMON — At least 50 Trout Lake property owners have together filed notice that they may sue to have complaints addressed over inequitable assessments.

The notice, filed by attorney Robert J. Leader, Gouverneur, says that the town of Hermon and Assessor Tom L. Hall have ignored their concerns and failed to have the Board of Assessment Review hear complaints May 27.

The board didn't have a quorum, triggering a quirky section of the state's Real Property law that had St. Lawrence County Treasurer Robert O. McNeil, County Administrator Karen M. St. Hilaire and Legislative Chairman J. Patrick Turbett sitting in as an interim board.

"I've done it two or three times over a 24-year period," Mr. McNeil said. "It's unusual."

The interim board, which met June 9 for about four hours, reduced the assessments on eight parcels and didn't change three. Most, but not all, were filed by Trout Lake property owners. Only the challenges filed for the original board's review were allowed.

"It's a touchy thing for a Board of Assessment Review to question the assessor's values," said Mr. McNeil, who acted as chairman. "We tried to come up with a methodology based on value per foot on the waterfront and cost of construction and follow it uniformly. They didn't get exactly what they wanted."

Mr. Hall said the reduced assessments won't stand for long.

"They're going to go right back up," he said. "It's unfair to the other people."

That's what happened to property owners who previously grieved their assessments, leading many to give up, said Craig S. Wood, one of the Trout Lake property owners named in the notice of claim filed against Mr. Hall, the town, the Board of Assessment Review, St. Lawrence County and Hermon-DeKalb Central School.

The legal document puts the institutions and assessor on notice of a lawsuit over the assessment roll.

Issues with assessments in Hermon go back to 2002, when the town switched to full value and reviewed all property after a decade of inactivity. Some property owners were so unhappy they even talked about seceding from Hermon and joining the town of Edwards. Assessments of waterfront property on Trout Lake skyrocketed and continued to climb.

That's expected under a system that uses market value as the calculator for assessments, said Jane B. Powers, county director of real property.

Even seasonal camps, some without running water, are assessed at three times the value of a home in the village of Hermon, Mr. Wood said.

Urbanites see the cost of property on Trout Lake as inexpensive, buying even swampy lots sight unseen from developers, and drive up costs, making it difficult for locals to afford to stay on the lake, he said. Even low-end camps bring more than $100,000.

The failure of the Board of Assessment Review to handle its own business upset a lot of people but wasn't the overriding reason behind taking legal action, Mr. Wood said.

"It was a combination of things. I just went along with it because I can see some inequities," he said. "I would like to see our taxes comparable to everybody else in our surrounding areas. I think we're overtaxed."

Mr. McNeil said he believes something needs to change, and not just in Hermon.

"I think it's reached a breaking point," he said. "I meet an awful lot of people whose taxes are more than their yearly mortgages. That's unbelievable. We've got to rethink that."

Assessments aren't to blame for high property taxes; municipal spending is, Mr. Hall said.

"Even if assessments go down, big deal. They still have to get the money for that budget," said Mr. Hall, who also lives on Trout Lake. "I'm probably going to get driven out of here myself in five years because of the taxes."