Change Of Assessment Notices Being Mailed To Wauwatosa Property Owners

Press release from the City of Wauwatosa:

April 15, 2020

Every year, the Assessor's Office prepares a preliminary assessment roll. This reflects property values as of January 1 each year. Based on that assessment roll, the City of Wauwatosa is required by state law to send a notice to property owners when there is a change in their assessed value from the prior year. We are mailing change of assessment notices the first week in May.

Examples of changes that could affect property value include: new construction, combining or splitting of parcels, remodeling, demolition, and any other occurrence that might affect value or the attributes of the parcel.

The Assessor’s Office anticipates that approximately 4% of the City’s real estate parcels will change in value for the January 1, 2020 assessment roll.

This means that not all property owners will receive a change of assessment notification.

The change of assessment notice includes information on the property assessment and Open Book period. The Open Book period is set aside to answer questions posed by property owners and to correct obvious clerical errors that were made in compiling the assessment roll. If an error was made, or if there is evidence that the assessment is different than the actual fair market value of the property, the Assessor's Office will review the facts and may make appropriate adjustments. The best evidence of value is a recent arm’s length sale of the property or sales of comparable properties.

This year’s Open Book Period is set for May 4 – May 15, 2020. Property owners can contact the Assessor’s Office at any point in the year, but changes to property values (supported by evidence) can only occur during the Open Book Period. If you are requesting a change in your property value during Open Book, you must also email tassessor@wauwatosa.net with evidence related to the difference in property value.

After Open Book period, property owners could file an appeal during the first meeting of Board of Review. More information will be on the city’s website when Board of Review is scheduled.

This press release was produced by the City of Wauwatosa. The views expressed here are the author’s own.