Property reappraisal coming up across Montgomery County, residents urged to work with Assessor’s Office

CLARSKVILLE, TN (CLARSKVILLE NOW) – Earlier this month, the Montgomery County Commission formally kicked off reappraisal season by approving a resolution marking July 1 as the start of the county’s next 5-year reappraisal cycle.

Assessor of Property Erinne Hester said the county is finishing its current five-year cycle. She urged county commissioners to have their constituents work with the assessor’s office as they look to fill out assessment change notices. Hester told those in attendance that an assessment change notice tells the property owner the difference in value and classification between last year and this year.

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Hester pointed out that in the mass approval process, for the four years leading up to the end of the cycle, the assessor’s office does a visual inspection of every property in Montgomery County, and they do so by capturing aerial images. However, they are limited to only what they can see on the outside.

Hester said sometimes the aerial images indicate something has changed on the inside of the house, but it doesn’t give her office a clear picture of what’s really going on.

She shared a story where a family came to the assessor’s office and told them there was no way they could sell their house for the listed valued price because of a failing basement wall.

“We guided them to a free estimate on what it would cost to remediate that issue,” Hester said. “It was about a $45,000 estimate to fix the failing basement wall of this house, and we were able to adjust the value from there.

“I share that because it’s really the clearest example: We are never going to know that the below-grade basement wall is failing when we’re looking at pictures taken from the sky … what we sincerely want is to make sure we have good data. I can’t know those things if property owners won’t come and interact with us.”

On Monday, May 20, the assessor is expected to note all assessments on the county assessment roll and notify all taxpayers of any change in their assessment. To view the full assessment calendar, click the following link.