The
assessor's role is to determine the value of the property.
It is not to determine the amount of the taxes. The more
correct name for a tax assessor is a Real Property Assessor.
The assessor determines the fair market value of your
property. This can be done in three different ways:
- Market Value compares the value of your property
to that of similar or comparable properties. This
also includes the highest price of the property if
it were sold on the open market. It is important to
remember that sale's comparisons are based on arms
length samples i.e. the only connection that buyers
and sellers have is the home sale. This is in an effort
to make the assessment fairly.
- Income takes into account how much money the property
would make if it were rented. The assessor includes
such things as the current market rental rates, vacancy
rates, insurances and maintenance costs associated
with the property.
- Cost Approach is based on the cost of actually
replacing the property minus depreciation. This is
the most difficult to compute and thus the least favored
method by assessors.
If your assessment does not appear to be fair or you
are not satisfied you may go to the assessors office
to review how the assessment was calculated i.e. market
value, income or cost approach. This can often be done
informally but if you are not satisfied, you can request
a judicial review.
The assessor's office maintains current information
on each piece of property it assesses such as owner,
maps and special characteristics.
If you think your taxes are too high and you want your
voice heard you will need to make the elected officials
in the municipality aware of your concerns but not the
assessor.
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