CITY ASSESSMENTS
Many of you have seen my posts digging into the details of the 2023 and Greenfield Road projects. While assessments are never welcomed, I understand their necessity—but necessity must be measured against fairness and equity for all. I’ve learned a lot about this often opaque process and even found myself educating the council on it, something I knew little about just three years ago. From this experience, I’ve made suggestions to amend the city’s Assessment Policy (see below), requested updates to state statutes, and advocated for several property owners who were unfairly assessed. Some have told me, "We paid our fair share, and now it’s your turn." They were surprised when I showed them how their "fair share" was actually an over-assessment that didn’t follow state statute or city policy. It’s time we update our policy and train the staff and city engineer on how to fairly assess property owners.
Voter Approval for Large Tax Levies: Any tax levy over $1,000,000 for individual projects should require voter approval. This includes understanding how individual projects contribute to larger aggregate projects.
Separate Appraisal and Planning: Move appraisal and assessment duties from the city engineer to the city planner, with a requirement to keep project costs independent of the appraisal. This change aims to reduce conflicts of interest and ensure accurate assessments by maintaining the independence of appraisers from project planning.
Impartial Appraisers: Appraisers must certify that their work is free from any influence related to project goals, timelines, or financial objectives.
Rotate Appraisers: For fairness, no appraiser will handle consecutive assessments. The last three assessments should involve different appraisers.
Limit Variance: Set a maximum allowable difference in assessments for similar properties, focusing on differences like driveway locations and direct versus indirect access.
New Assessment Methods: Introduce additional methods such as:
- Public Cost Sharing: Costs are divided among city taxpayers based on property value.
- Equal Assessment: Costs are split equally among properties benefiting from the project.
Street Improvements: Require that any street improvements after initial city standard upgrades should be paid for using the public cost sharing method.
Developer Escrow: Developers building on unimproved collector roads should set up escrow accounts to reduce future assessment impacts.
Detailed Assessments: Provide property owners with clear, detailed information on how their assessments were calculated and the methods used to backup the appraised benefit.
Independent Oversight: Ensure the planning committee reviews all assessments to confirm they meet policy requirements before the City Council approves them.