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1. What's an Abatement and How Can I Get One?

An assessment appeal is not a complaint about higher taxes. It is an attempt to prove that your property's estimated market value is either inaccurate or unfair.

You may appeal when you can prove at least one of three things:

• Items that affect value are incorrect on your property record. You have one bath, not two. You have a carport, not a garage. Your home has 1,600, not 2,000 square feet.
• The estimated market value is too high. You have evidence that similar properties have sold for less than the estimated market value of your property.
• The estimated market value of your property is accurate but inequitable because it is higher than the estimated value of similar properties.

Note: You will not win an appeal because you think your taxes are too high. This is an issue you must take up with the officials who determine budgets. However, you may be eligible for tax relief or exemptions. The assessor's office can give you information about exemptions.

Abatement Forms:

• Real Estate / Personal Property Abatement Application (PDF)
• Motor Vehicle Excise Abatement Application (PDF)

2. Why is my Property Value So High?

Finding the "full and fair cash value" or "market value" of a property involves discovering what similar properties are selling for, what the property would cost today to replace and what financial factors, such as interest rates, may be affecting the real estate market.

Valuation techniques for commercial and industrial properties also include analysis from an investment point of view, since the purchase price the buyer is willing to pay depends in part on the return he expects to receive.

A property's value can change for many reasons. The most obvious is that the property changes. A bedroom, garage, or swimming pool is added, or part of the property is destroyed by flood or fire. The most frequent cause of a change in value is a change in the market. If a town's major industry leaves, property values can collapse. As decaying neighborhoods with good housing stock are discovered by young homebuyers, prices gradually rise, and then may soar as the neighborhood becomes fashionable. A shortage of detached houses in a desirable city neighborhood can send prices to ridiculous levels. In a recession, larger homes may stay on the market for a long time, but more affordable homes are in demand, so their prices rise. In a stable neighborhood, with no extraordinary pressure from the market, inflation may increase property value.

If you believe the estimated value of your property is incorrect, you will want to know:

• How the assessor values property
• How to gather information about your property and similar properties.
• How the appeals process works and what the deadlines are

You also have a responsibility to furnish good information about your property to the assessor.

3. If assessed values rise, do taxes have to rise? If assessed values fall, do taxes have to fall?

The answer to both is no.

Taxing authorities decide how much money the property tax has to raise each year, say $1 million. Assessors estimate the total assessed value of all taxable property, say $100 million. A tax rate is calculated by dividing the amount of tax to be raised by the total assessed value: $1 million divided by $100 million equals 1%

If your home's assessed value is $100,000, your tax bill will be: 0.01 times $100,000 equals $1,000

If total assessed value doubles to $200 million, and the amount to be raised stays the same, the tax rate will be: $1 million divided by $200 million equals 0.5%

Your taxes, if your home doubles in value, will still be $1,000: 0.005 times $200,000 equals $1,000

If assessed value increases, and the tax rate remains the same, taxes will rise. The taxing authorities are demanding more money, even though they have not changed the rate. 0.01 times $200,000 equals $2,000

The Assessor's office does not control the tax rate.

4. Who Owns What? or, How do I Verify Ownership?

In the Assessor's office there is a counter terminal available for public use. With it you can verify ownership of property in Littleton.