Pandemic won’t stop walk-through reassessment

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the City of Port Washington is moving ahead with plans for a walk-through reassessment to begin this fall.

City Administrator Tony Brown said the reassessment will be done by Associated Appraisal Consultants beginning in September.

The process will continue through the fall, then begin again in spring with a goal of completing the work by September 2021.

Associated Appraisal Consultants will have seven assessors review all the properties in the city, inspecting them inside and out.

Provisions will have to be made for inspectors to safely examine the properties, especially due to the pandemic, Brown said, adding he’s not sure at this point what those precautions will be.

“We have a bit of time to determine that,” he said. “I would assume there are going to be a lot of people who don’t even want to let them in their houses, and I understand that.” 

But in order to do a proper inspection and ensure properties are fairly valued, the insepctions are necessary, he said.

The city will notify residents of the precautions being taken before the inspections begin, Brown said.

Once the revaluation is completed, property owners will be notified of the new assessments. 

The reassessment is required by the state because properties in the city are currently assessed at 80% of fair market value, well below the 90% required by the state Department of Revenue.

“Eighty percent is not good,” Brown said. “We need to do this. This is crucial for the city to get to the point where the equalization ratio is where it should be so people are taxed fairly.”

Once the assessment ratio falls below 90%, communities have five years to do a revaluation without penalty.

While property values are expected to increase with a reassessment, it does not mean that taxes will also increase since values are expected to go up across the board.

However, people whose properties appreciate more than the average will likely see a tax hike while those whose properties increase less than the average will see a tax cut.