Why did my assessment increase / how did you come up with this assessment?
We have a complex set of rules and regulations that are required to be followed to calculate the assessment annually. It is not based on the prior year, rather, it is based on the formulas and metrics in the current year. We do send your assessment notice and calculate the increase or decrease from the prior year to the current year, but that is information only. In reality we start from 0 each year and use the average selling price of land and building prices in a year-long process.
At the end of the day, if you disagree that your assessment is 50% or half of the actual market value (true cash value), then you should file an appeal with the March Board of Review.
When you file that appeal, you will be asked what you believe the fair market value should be and you will also be asked what evidence you have to support that position. There are many types of evidence and some of which would be: recent selling price/recent purchase price, professional appraisal, real estate comparable properties, or other pieces of evidence which show market value of real estate.
How did you come up with the assessment? We can mail or email your property record card. This shows the calculation and factors on their property and ‘how’ we got to the assessment.
Please also review our newsletter for helpful information.