MONROE - Twenty-one out of 36 municipalities in The Monroe Times coverage area are out of compliance with the Wisconsin law on tax reassessments.
State law requires towns, villages and cities to have an assessed value of 90 percent of the full or equalized value. In Green County, 11 of 24 municipalities, or about 46 percent, are out of compliance this year. Last year, 42 percent were non-compliant. Of the 12 Lafayette County municipalities in the Times area, 10, or 83 percent, are not in compliance, down from 91 percent last year.
Of the 1,908 municipalities in Wisconsin, 458 are not in compliance.
When a municipality has been out of compliance for four years, it receives a warning from the state Department of Revenue.
Fayette and Gratiot townships and the village of Blanchardville in Lafayette County have been out of compliance for four or more years. Fayette and Gratiot are at 77 percent assessed value, and Blanchardville is at 75 percent.
In Green County, Cadiz, Monroe and Spring Grove townships and the village of Albany have been out of compliance for four or more years. Cadiz township and the Village of Albany are at 76 percent. Monroe and Spring Grove townships are at 81 percent.
Blanchardville and Albany are in the process of doing their assessments now.
Blanchardville Village Clerk Kathryn Kammerude said all the village assessments for 2008 are close to completion.
"In fact, the field work is done," she said.
The assessor is meeting with the state department of revenue to make sure the assessments are not too far out of line with expected amounts.
The state will post the results sometime in March or April, and residents soon will receive a notice in the mail for a chance for an open book meeting with the assessor.
Although she did not have exact figures, Kammerude estimated the assessment would cost the village about $10,000. The last assessment done in 2000 cost the village $7,000.
Falling out of compliance has not been as bad in the past two years as it was between 2000 and 2005 or 2006, Kammerude said. During that time, sales were so much higher than the assessed values, "it makes the state think your property is worth a lot more," she said.
Blanchardville's total assessment dropped from 91.6 percent of equalized value in 2003 to 75.2 percent in 2006 to 75.1 percent in 2007.
Monroe township hired an assessor last year and should be finished with its reassessment this summer, before the Aug. 1 board of review, Town Clerk Karen Sutter said. The reassessment is costing the township $22,300.
But the township also pays $4,800 each year for regular assessments of new construction and improvements made during the year.
Sutter said the Monroe township doesn't have a lot of commercial property. She believes the dramatic drop in assessment levels is because "people pay more than what it (property) is assessed for.
"The other factor in residential assessment is bare land has always sold for more than it's assessed," by people looking to build new homes, she said.
Albany Village Clerk Laurie Keepers said residents are receiving letters to set appointments for property assessments. She said she hopes the assessments will be finished in time for the state Department of Revenue to post in March or April. The cost to the village for the assessment will be $22,700.
Albany's commercial assessment slid from 85 percent in 2004 to 67 percent in 2005. Keepers said she doesn't know why those assessments slid so quickly.
"We really haven't had that many commercial property sales" to make that big of a drop, she said.
Spring Grove township also had a drop in commercial assessment, from 97.6 percent in 2005 to 66.2 percent in 2006. Town Clerk Deb Cline said she didn't understand what caused the drop. She said an appraisal company handles all the updating for their township, but she did not know when, or if, they had begun.
Both the village of Albany and Spring Grove township use Associate Appraisal Counsulting Inc. for their reassessments.
John Holtan, vice president of Associate Appraisal Consulting, Inc. of Appleton, said overall property values have appreciated, but not all property will go up at the same rate during reassessment.
Holtan said property values have not been increasing as rapidly in the past couple of years because of the "soft market" of 2007 and 2008.
According to Holtan, assessment of an individual piece of real estate may be made by one or more methods of valuation: income approach, market value or replacement cost. Wisconsin uses "first and foremost" the market value. Property assessments increase when market values increase. Property value also increases with improvements to building and the land or site.
State law requires towns, villages and cities to have an assessed value of 90 percent of the full or equalized value. In Green County, 11 of 24 municipalities, or about 46 percent, are out of compliance this year. Last year, 42 percent were non-compliant. Of the 12 Lafayette County municipalities in the Times area, 10, or 83 percent, are not in compliance, down from 91 percent last year.
Of the 1,908 municipalities in Wisconsin, 458 are not in compliance.
When a municipality has been out of compliance for four years, it receives a warning from the state Department of Revenue.
Fayette and Gratiot townships and the village of Blanchardville in Lafayette County have been out of compliance for four or more years. Fayette and Gratiot are at 77 percent assessed value, and Blanchardville is at 75 percent.
In Green County, Cadiz, Monroe and Spring Grove townships and the village of Albany have been out of compliance for four or more years. Cadiz township and the Village of Albany are at 76 percent. Monroe and Spring Grove townships are at 81 percent.
Blanchardville and Albany are in the process of doing their assessments now.
Blanchardville Village Clerk Kathryn Kammerude said all the village assessments for 2008 are close to completion.
"In fact, the field work is done," she said.
The assessor is meeting with the state department of revenue to make sure the assessments are not too far out of line with expected amounts.
The state will post the results sometime in March or April, and residents soon will receive a notice in the mail for a chance for an open book meeting with the assessor.
Although she did not have exact figures, Kammerude estimated the assessment would cost the village about $10,000. The last assessment done in 2000 cost the village $7,000.
Falling out of compliance has not been as bad in the past two years as it was between 2000 and 2005 or 2006, Kammerude said. During that time, sales were so much higher than the assessed values, "it makes the state think your property is worth a lot more," she said.
Blanchardville's total assessment dropped from 91.6 percent of equalized value in 2003 to 75.2 percent in 2006 to 75.1 percent in 2007.
Monroe township hired an assessor last year and should be finished with its reassessment this summer, before the Aug. 1 board of review, Town Clerk Karen Sutter said. The reassessment is costing the township $22,300.
But the township also pays $4,800 each year for regular assessments of new construction and improvements made during the year.
Sutter said the Monroe township doesn't have a lot of commercial property. She believes the dramatic drop in assessment levels is because "people pay more than what it (property) is assessed for.
"The other factor in residential assessment is bare land has always sold for more than it's assessed," by people looking to build new homes, she said.
Albany Village Clerk Laurie Keepers said residents are receiving letters to set appointments for property assessments. She said she hopes the assessments will be finished in time for the state Department of Revenue to post in March or April. The cost to the village for the assessment will be $22,700.
Albany's commercial assessment slid from 85 percent in 2004 to 67 percent in 2005. Keepers said she doesn't know why those assessments slid so quickly.
"We really haven't had that many commercial property sales" to make that big of a drop, she said.
Spring Grove township also had a drop in commercial assessment, from 97.6 percent in 2005 to 66.2 percent in 2006. Town Clerk Deb Cline said she didn't understand what caused the drop. She said an appraisal company handles all the updating for their township, but she did not know when, or if, they had begun.
Both the village of Albany and Spring Grove township use Associate Appraisal Counsulting Inc. for their reassessments.
John Holtan, vice president of Associate Appraisal Consulting, Inc. of Appleton, said overall property values have appreciated, but not all property will go up at the same rate during reassessment.
Holtan said property values have not been increasing as rapidly in the past couple of years because of the "soft market" of 2007 and 2008.
According to Holtan, assessment of an individual piece of real estate may be made by one or more methods of valuation: income approach, market value or replacement cost. Wisconsin uses "first and foremost" the market value. Property assessments increase when market values increase. Property value also increases with improvements to building and the land or site.