Port property values skyrocket with revaluation

Port Washington property owners will be getting their new assessments in the coming weeks, and on average they will find the value of their residential properties has increased by 35%, the Common Council learned Tuesday.

“You will be getting calls in the next couple weeks,” Luke Mack, project manager with Associated Appraisal Consultants Inc., which conducted the city’s reassessment, told aldermen. 

The last notices of revaluation will go out on Sept. 3, he said, and property owners need to be prepared. 

“The first thing a property owner is going to do when they see an assessment going up $60,000, $70,000, $80,000 is to say, ‘Why,’” Mack said.

The answer, he said, is that the market has changed since properties were last assessed. 

Not only is the real estate market hot, but valuations have fallen to about 80% of market value, officials noted when they agreed to do the appraisal last year.

Mack said that percentage could have fallen to about 70% if the revaluation wasn’t conducted now.

“There are going to be some pretty hefty increases,” he warned. “Some are going to double.”

That’s because the assessors have discovered that when the last revaluation was done in 2012, not every property was reassessed, Mack said.

“Some people haven’t been revaluated in 10 years,” he said. “The market has changed.”

And, he said, the assessors discovered a number of renovations, remodelings, additions and finished basements that weren’t reflected in the current valuations.

Due to the pandemic, this year’s reassessment was done with exterior inspections, Mack said, noting property owners were cooperative with assessors. 

A questionnaire to determine home condition was sent to residents, and Mack said that about 55% — “more than expected” — were returned.

While assessors try to avoid getting into the question of taxes, Mack said, residents often ask about the impact of the new assessment on the tax rate.

“Last year’s tax rate isn’t going to be this year’s tax rate,” he said. “It will be lower.” 

Because of that, the owners of properties that increase by the average 35% will find their taxes are about the same as last year. Those whose valuations increased more will find their city taxes going up, while people whose property increased less will see their tax bill decreasing.

One question officials need to prepare for is why the revaluation is being done during one of the hottest real estate markets in memory, Mack said.

“It’s state mandated,” he said. 

The state requires communities to be within 10% of the fair market value, and once a community falls out of that it has a limited amount of time to get up to 100%.

“Once you’re out of compliance, you have to get back in,” Mack said.

The next question, he noted, is likely to be “What about when the market tanks? What are you going to do?”  he said.

There are a number of avenues for a community to undertake then, he said, including another revaluation.

It’s not just residential properties that have increased in value, Mack said. While residential properties increased an average of 35%, commercial properties increased by an average 25%.

Port isn’t the only community facing such large increases in valuation, Mack told aldermen, adding 35% is typical.

People who have questions about their assessment or want to challenge it may attend open book sessions on Sept. 16, Mack said. If needed, he noted, the assessors will also meet with residents the following day.

Appointments can be done in person or over the phone, he said, adding that if people can’t meet on the designated day, the assessors will try to accommodate them.

But, he said, while the increase in valuations is significant, there may not be much debate over them since residents have seen how much properties are selling for. 

“In other revaluations we’ve done this year with large increases, for some reason the turnout (at open book sessions and Board of Review) has been low,” he said, noting this trend was unexpected.

If residents still aren’t pleased with their assessment, they may then attend the Board of Review on Oct. 6 to plead their case, Mack said.

“After the Board of Review, the assessments are set,” he said.

But, he said, the best thing for residents to do is call the assessor to discuss the valuation.

“A quick conversation could fix any simple thing,” he said.

Mayor Ted Neitzke noted that many residents have had their properties appraised during the past 10 years during refinancings.

He asked that a chart be prepared giving property owners an idea of how valuation increases across the board have impacted taxes historically. 

“The general citizen is going to freak out at a 35% increase in property value,” he said. “They’re immediately going to think all their taxes are going to go along with that and they’re not even going to be close to that.”

“The average homeowner in the city is going to see zero change,” Ald Mike Gasper said.

He noted that American Transmission Co. is buying easements for numerous properties in his district, particularly along Chestnut Street, and asked if that was taken into account with the reassessment.

Mack said that will affect next year’s valuation.