Winter may be finally behind us (we hope). The warmer weather also means your Assessing Department will begin field appraisals of properties in the city.
The State of Michigan suggests that each assessing district in the state attempt to reappraise at least 20% of the properties on its roll annually. The purpose for this reappraisal is to verify that the information we have in our system related to a resident's property is as accurate and error-free as possible. This ensures that the valuations we work with for the 2019 tax year are a fair representation of each property's value.
A reappraisal involves one of our employees visiting your property. The field appraiser will be carrying a record card of the property and checking the property for any differences he finds between the record card information and the actual parcel's characteristics. This may involve some measuring of buildings during a walk around of the property. It also involves the taking of pictures for verification of the property's condition and as a means of documenting his visit.
If the owner/resident is home, the field appraiser will contact them, letting them know who he is, and interview them, if they're willing, concerning information we have on file related to the interior characteristics of the property such as number of rooms, basement size/use, number of bathrooms, etc.
If the owner/resident is away, the field appraiser will leave a questionnaire. We would appreciate homeowners/residents filling this out and returning it to us at their convenience.
Residences scheduled for reappraisal this year will receive a letter from our department informing them of this. While it's not possible for us to pin a firm date on when the reappraisal may occur due to variables like the weather or unforeseen scheduling conflicts, we will make an effort to get to your reappraisal as soon as possible.
This reappraisal offers everyone concerned with the opportunity to participate in a process that will lead to a shared confidence in the valuations assigned to City properties.
We appreciate your cooperation in this effort and look forward to seeing you.
Martin Boyd
Field Appraiser - Albion Assessing Dept.