Wouldn’t my property taxes go down if the assessor lowered home values in our community?
Not necessarily. To illustrate how the levy affects your assessment we’ll look at Badgertown; a community of two. Each resident owns a house valued at $100,000. Badgertown’s tax levy is $2,000; the amount needed to cover its expenses. Since each resident owns 50% of the total property, they each pay 50% of the levy giving them each a tax bill of $1,000. If property values in Badgertown go up 10%, then each property is assessed at $110,000. The amount they pay in taxes, however, remains the same. Each resident still owns 50% of the total property in Badgertown and must pay 50% of the $2,000 tax levy or $1,000. And what if values start dropping? Residents’ property might drop to $80,000 each but because they each still own 50% of the property, and Badgertown still needs to collect $2,000, they will continue to see a $1,000 property tax bill.
