Regarding the assessment procedure, as I understand it, all properties are assessed by the County. The County assesses property the way other appraisers do - by looking at the sales prices of comparable properties in the area. They also tend to add value when you improve the property - put on a deck, etc. If you believe that their assessment of your property is too high, then you can challenge that in court. I believe that this happened with the Target Center, and the valuation was substantially reduced by the court, which is one reason why the taxes collected on the Target Center aren't meeting expectations. The Mall of America also challenged their valuation and got it substantially reduced.
In my neighborhood, the assessed value of the homes has gone up substantially in the past couple of years, but so has the value of the property. One of my neighbors sold a house for twice what she paid for it. Although your property's assessed value may have gone up substantially, its actual value may have risen even more than that. I think many of you would be astonished at how valuable your houses are right now. So, if you believe that your house is overvalued, then there is a legal procedure by which you can challenge that valuation. However, it might just be that your house really is worth that much. Jon Lewis Lyndale _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
