MONROE — As Monroe homeowners get their new property assessments, city leaders are working with the firm tasked with doing the job to address rising concern about the assessment numbers and the process for arriving at them.

Speaking at the Sept. 5 City Council meeting, Tom Donohue, who lives on 13th Avenue, told the council his assessment jumped a whopping 62 percent in 2018; and is perhaps facing an equal increase this time around — as assessments have soared across the state in a red-hot housing market.

An Appleton-based company called Accurate Appraisal has been contracted by the city to do the assessment work and the city is now in its “open book” stage of the process in which citizens can compare their numbers to those of their neighbors to see if they feel it is an accurate reflection of a given property.

Donohue, meanwhile, says he does not have much faith in Accurate’s numbers. Moreover, he says the company has been hard to reach on the phone or online to answer his lingering questions about the assessment.

“They are just throwing numbers at the ledger,” he said. “If that is what is going on with Accurate then why are they being hired by the city?”

But city officials, including Mayor Donna Douglas and City Administrator Brittney Rindy, say the firm isn’t simply throwing out high numbers — but rather it is going through a careful process that, by design, includes a period for homeowner feedback and comparison.

“The concerns are heard and we encourage individuals that struggle to make contact or appointments with the assessors to contact us at City Hall and we will help coordinate further efforts,” Rindy said by email, following the meeting. 

Douglas also reassured homeowners that the process will be a fair reflection of property values in town when it is all over.

“We need a fair assessment for our city and county,” said Douglas. “We are concerned about that and if people are having problems, they need to get ahold of us. It is a major concern and we are working with Accurate to address it.”

Douglas and Rindy said Accurate is taking numerous steps to be more available to citizens during the assessment period

“Due to the high demand, Accurate has added additional open book phone appointment time slots,” said Rindy, adding that she sent an email blast out to residents Wednesday addressing their concerns.

Officials also note that the process has improved markedly over the last assessment in 2018 —increasing the amount of time alloted to meet with an assessor, and improved accessibility to preliminary assessment numbers online so homeowners can work on their own comparisons at home.

“We need the comparables (numbers) to assess what they (Accurate) are doing,” said Donohue. “If they are going to assess our property, they should tell us what they are doing.”

Compounding the problem, Rindy said some Internet browsers are having difficulty with Acccurate’s web site but that she is happy to work with residents directly to eliminate any problems with accessing the information.

“We want to get it right,” said Douglas.