Understanding
Your Assessment
In an effort to assist the taxpayer in
determining whether their assessments are fair or not, many government
agencies publish booklets with titles like "How to Challenge Your
Assessment" or "How to Grieve Your Assessment." The titles
alone tend to place the taxpayer and the assessor on opposite sides. All
too often, taxpayers mistakenly feel that the assessor is an adversary, so
they avoid all contact until they meet before an assessment grievance board
or commission to question their assessment. In most cases this is not
necessary and may cause needless work, expense, and sometimes frustration
for both you and your assessor. All the professional assessor wants to do
is create the most equitable result within the limits of the laws of the
jurisdiction.
In fact, if you think your assessment is too
high, you should simply have an informal meeting with the assessor to
discuss the information and methods used to arrive at the current assessed
value. More often than not, questions of value can be cleared up in a very
brief meeting between the assessor and taxpayer. At that meeting you can
check the inventory information on your property and also see how other
comparable properties are assessed. It is also fair to ask the methodology
used in arriving at your current assessment. Did they use the sales comparison, income, or
cost approach to value?
If this meeting does not help you find common ground with the assessor,
then you can request information on administrative or judicial review
procedures.
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