The Assessor's Office is responsible for performing and maintaining property assessments for the uniform and equitable distribution of the property tax burden. This office maintains information on the real and personal property within the City limits including address, owner, taxpayer, description of land, lot size, building size, quality, construction type, year built, and true cash, assessed and taxable values.
This information is used to prepare the assessment and tax rolls for the city. The assessment and tax rolls are used to levy and collect taxes to fund the various local public services provided by the city and county, and to fund the local and intermediate school districts.
The Assessing Department also processes deeds and property transfer affidavits for the establishment of correct and current property ownership. It administers homestead, agricultural and industrial facility tax exemptions, conducts property sales studies, performs neighborhood revaluation, and values and records new construction.
The Board of Review falls under the jurisdiction of the Assessor's office. The City's three member Board of Review meets approximately five times each year to review the property assessment roll, hear assessment appeals, make any needed corrections to, and ultimately endorse the assessment roll. The Board is also responsible, at its July and December sessions, to hear appeals on approvals and denials of homestead and agricultural exemption issues and to correct clerical errors and mutual mistakes of fact regarding the assessment roll.

A NOTE FROM THE ASSESSOR'S OFFICE:


From the Desk of Jan Sal

June 1, 2007

NEIGHBORHOOD FIELD STUDY

Our annual neighborhood field study is currently being conducted in the area of Winter, Summer, Springdale, Autumn, Nellie and Hope Streets. Donavan Hylarides (a summer intern) and I will visit each Individual property. The structures will be photographed, measured and information gathered from the property owner for updating and correcting the property parcel record. We would appreciate your consideration with regard to locked fences, dogs, etc. Please call Amy Lambert or myself at 669-0200 extension 413 or 416 if you have any concerns regarding our work and/or if it would be more convenient for you to schedule an appointment for our visit.

DEFINITIONS:

Assessed Value (AV) - represents 50% of the market value of the property. This value can change from year to year without regard to caps or other presumed limits on taxes, etc.

State Equalized Value (SEV) - is the value of the property as equalized by the county and/or state. Generally, the SEV is the same as the assessed value unless the state or county has applied a multiplying/equalizing factor to correct the overall valuation of a class of property in the city.

Capped Value - is the taxable value of the property last year plus 5%. One of the mandates of Proposal A is a 5% cap on the valuation used to calculate taxes.

Taxable Value - THIS IS THE VALUATION USED TO CALCULATE YOUR TAXES. Since the inception of Proposal A, SEV and AV are no longer the base for calculating taxes, unless the property has been transferred to a new owner (most commonly through a sale). Then the taxable value is uncapped and the assessed value becomes the taxable value for the new owner in the year following the transfer of ownership. However, for the current owner (owner of record on or before December 31, 2005) the taxable value does not change by more than the inflation rate as determined by the State Tax Commission OR the mandated 5% cap, whichever is less. The inflation rate stated as a multiplier is 1.033 (3.3%) for the 2006 assessment year. Improvements to the property such as additions, accessory buildings, fencing, decks, and/or finished basement are added to the taxable value in addition to the inflation rate adjustment. Likewise, improvements to the property that have been removed are subtracted. If no changes have been made to the property the 2006 taxable value has increased by 3.3% over last year's taxable value. The assessed value or state equalized value may have changed substantially more but will not affect your taxes.

Janice Sal, Assessor

To protect our citizens from fraud or mischief, all requests for change of mailing address for city correspondence must be submitted on the following form. This document must be filled out and submitted to the Assessor's office for review and approval. It is important that this document be filled out in its entirety and signed by the taxpayer. Please note that the taxpayer's name is derived from property deeds and reflect ownership. While we can send tax invoices and other information "in care of" someone designated by the taxpayer, requests for change of taxpayer's name must be accompanied by documentation indicating a legal change of ownership. If you have any questions regarding this document please contact the Assessor at 669-0200, extension 413.

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