In this article written by Warren Leisenring, Jr., a consultant for this website, he shares some insight into his experiences and thoughts on what has happened in the relationship between assessors and property owners.

Property owners should not have fears when it comes to grieving their property assessments.

Becoming an assessor is almost always a thankless job. It takes hours of training with a system that everyone agrees is broken.

I believe an assessor when in training and for a while thereafter has every intention of doing what is correct for both the system and the property owner. When a property owner comes in for an informal meeting to address questions on their property assessment, the assessor relies on their training. However, if a property owner has a question that may not be exactly in line with the assessor’s training, the assessor may say they will look into that but that they do not believe you can do it. The property owner would then leave the meeting and wait for further answers from the assessor.

As years go by, some assessors may relax and get comfortable in their own ways. Each time an assessor may say "you cannot do it" the more they may believe it without researching the question or method. With no one over them to supervise or guide them, it can get easier to rely on habit, right or wrong.

Most assessments are done by a Mass Appraisal System (see this section in Resources) which groups large numbers of similar types of residences together. This has been proven to be inaccurate. Read more

February 14, 2022

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