by The Ann Arbor Independent Editorial Team

Next Monday, the Ann Arbor Board of Review will hear appeals of city tax assessments. To schedule a review, taxpayers are required to call the assessor’s office at 734-794-6530. Sessions are slated to be scheduled during these times:

Mon 3/20 between 9-5
Tues 3/21 between 9-5
Wed 3/22 between 1-8
Thu 3/23 between 9-noon

The Assessing Office establishes assessed and taxable values of all taxable property within the City of Ann Arbor. To establish the assessed value of each real property in the city, the Assessing Office lists, inventories, inspects, analyzes sales and income data, calculates depreciated costs and appraises the value of each taxable property within the City of Ann Arbor.

Notices of Assessment and Taxable Value were mailed to property owners approximately the first week of March this year.

To establish the taxable value of each property in the city, the Assessing Office monitors transfers of ownership to determine when the taxable value of a property becomes uncapped. To establish the taxable and assessed value of personal property, the Assessing Office identifies new business owners by performing street surveys, processes personal property statements, and audits the records and examines the personal property of a sampling of businesses.

According to the City Assessor’s website:

Claiming that your property taxes are too high and continue to go up is not a valid basis for appeal. (Remember that the Taxable Value may increase each year based on the Inflation Rate Multiplier or 1.05 whichever is less). To actually see a reduction in taxes, the Assessed Value (SEV) or Capped Value must decrease to less than the level of your current Taxable Value.

To have a good basis for appeal you need to provide evidence which indicates the Assessed Value is in excess of 50% of True Cash Value. This requires some research and fact finding on your part. Is the value of your property comparable to the sale price of similar properties that sold in your area? Is the information on which the Assessor based the appraisal correct? If you wish to check the accuracy, you need to visit the Assessor’s Office to review your property record card.

For more information, visit the City Assessor’s website: http://www.a2gov.org/departments/finance-admin-services/assessing/Pages/OnlineProperty.aspx