Mailbag: Mr. Connors Writes: Re Assessment:

If houses in one part of the city have been damaged by a flood, then yes, they clearly should be reassessed. If everyone's houses have decreased in value roughly the same percentage, then it would be a waste of time and money to reassess everyone, because it would have no impact on anyone's property taxes. The property tax rate is determined by the tax levy (total dollars) divided by the total assessed value of all property in the city.

If the assessed value of all property goes down by the same percentage, the total tax base goes down, the rate goes up, and everyone ends up paying the same amount. Similarly, if all houses increase in value about the same percentage, increasing the assessments has no impact on how much property tax anyone pays. There are only two things that can affect your property tax: the property tax levies set by the local governments during their budget processes, and a reassessment that changes your houses value differently than most other properties in the same jurisdiction. If you want to pay less in property taxes, focus on the local governments' budgets and levies, not on the assessments.