Chocolay Township

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Assessor

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Assessor Responsibilities

The Assessor is responsible for the discovering, listing, and assigning value to every property within the Township. By law, the Assessor is required to reassess each property in the Township annually. The Assessor’s Office monitors all sales and analyzes the local real estate market relative to economic conditions, supply and demand factors, and other influences that affect value.

The Assessor maintains a property record card indicating ownership and sale information as well as property characteristics of every parcel in the Township. The Assessor uses the characteristics of your property in connection with the analysis of the real estate market to estimate a market value, then an assessed and taxable value for your property.

It is common misconception that the Assessor’s Office alone determines your tax bill. This is not so. There are several different elements that enter into that formula and the Assessor’s Office is responsible for only one of those elements.

Role of the Assessor

The Assessor’s primary goal is to arrive at an accurate market value estimate of your property and to assure that similar properties have similar assessed values. When you call with a question on the valuation of your property, the Assessor will explain how the value of your property was determined, what the values are on comparable properties and offer you whatever assistance is necessary in understanding all the factors used in the valuation of your property.

The only issue the Assessor can address with you is the value of your property; the issue of the amount of your tax bill is not within the realm of the assessor’s control. The Assessor will work with you to ensure the fair and equitable assessment of your property.

There are two sets of checks and balances in the assessment structure. The first check is at the County level. The County performs sales and appraisal studies to determine the level of assessment. This check actually dictates to the Assessor the amount of increase or decrease that must be spread across each property class.

Secondly, the State Tax Commission periodically performs sales and appraisal studies to check the County studies for accuracy.

Working with the Assessor

When you receive your assessment notice, look at the assessed value of your property. Be as objective as possible. If you believe that the market would not support the assessor’s estimate of value for your property, or that your assessment is not equitable with others, please contact the Assessor.

The Assessor may ask you to support your position by offering some evidence of the value you believe to be correct, or by indicating the values of similar (comparable) properties. The Assessor may also ask to schedule an interior inspection to aid in the review.