The Assessor’s office is responsible for determining the actual value of your property. We revalue all properties every two years as ordered by state statute. For example, in 2019 and 2020, we determined the market value of residential property by analyzing sales of properties that sold between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2018. These dates are set by the state. Once these sales were verified, they were compared to the property being valued by a computer program and adjusted for size, age, date of sale, and amenities, such as bathrooms, garages, basements, porches, etc. This adjusted value is what the Assessor’s Office believes is a reasonable market value for your property and is the value used by the Treasurer’s Office to calculate your taxes. We call this value the actual value.
Property taxes are calculated using this actual value by plugging it in to the formulas below:
Actual Value x Assessment Rate = Assessed Value
- The actual value is the value explained above.
- The assessment rate is set by the state legislature. In 2020, the residential assessment rate was 7.15% and the non-residential assessment rate was 29%.
Assessed Value x Mill Levy = Taxes
- The assessed value is the value calculated in the previous step.
- The mill levy is determined by the school districts, county commissioners, and local taxing authorities such as fire departments, water districts, metro districts, and various other special districts.
Here is an example calculating the taxes of a $300,000 residence with 100 mills levy using the 2020 assessment rate:
- $300,000 X 7.15% = $21,450
- $21,450 X 0.100 = $2,145.00 total taxes
Taxes for like-valued properties will vary based on the specific mill levy for the tax district where the property is located, and taxes for properties in the same tax district will vary based on having different values.
As you can see, there are a number of reasons that your taxes could have gone up. However the most common reason that your taxes go up is that the value assigned to your property has increased. The valued assigned by the Assessor’s Office will follow the pattern of market value of properties in your neighborhood. As the value of homes in the neighborhood increase, so too does the value assigned by the Assessor’s Office. If homes are selling for more, you home becomes more valuable, even if no changes have been made to your property.
The appeal timeframe is May 1st thru June 1st each year. It is important to review your Notice of Value sent every odd year to every property owner to determine if you agree with the Assessor Value.