AMSTERDAM, N.Y. -- Assessor Michael Chiara said he wasn't going to sit and be lambasted by council members.

He was supposed to file a city wide reevaluation back in January. On Tuesday night, council members finally got their chance to find out why he didn't.

Chiara claims he did the work, but he says even after multiple revisions, the new numbers would put some residents in danger of not being able to afford their homes.

"I still didn't come up with the numbers that wouldn't put the city in jeopardy and that's something I don't have the right to do," Chiara said.

Chiara says holding back the re-evaluation became a matter of judgment. Council members though, say it wasn't something he had the right to decide.

"I think it would be a credit to you rather than a discredit if you went public with that information and brought it to us to say ya or nay," Alderman Bill Wills said.

"What are we going to do with what you do have? Can we use it in the future? And should we not do a reval ever?" Alderwoman Kim Brumley asked.

Although Chiara did say the re-evaluation could be used in the future, when asked by one council member if it could be used as soon as next year, he said he'd have to think about that.

His solution is for council members to persuade Albany for a cap on how much assessment can go up in a given period of time.

"I think you should ask for special legislation to cap the percentage assessed values can be raised in a year so you don't create a panic," he said.

In the meantime, Chiara and the council are forced to find a solution with state's office of real property value, while city residents are stuck paying for a project that took two years and extra staff and netted no result.