Tuesday I'll be attending training in Vermont for members of boards of civil authority. We are town officials who are the first level of appeal for the assessed value of properties for real estate tax purposes. Perhaps some forum members would like to suggest some questions I should ask related to how surveys might affect property taxes.
The number one difference I have seen is that people are being taxed on property that is now within the ROW of highways.
A current survey will correct this and most other discrepencies.
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A current survey might state what the area is with and without the ROW. But then the state needs a policy about what to do with that information. I emailed about that issue in the past, and there didn't seem to be a policy. I'll ask again.
The idea of removing ROW's from taxes doesn't require a survey here. The landowner only has to show that the highway crosses his lands, it's what GIS is for. The term is waste land and they will take it out of the tax rolls. Also, there is a topographic exception were lots that cascade down a cliff?ÿface?ÿcan get a reduction.?ÿOn the other side are vacated streets that aren't getting taxed, another issue with county mapping.
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The meeting was information-packed, and I didn't get a chance to ask this question. It was brought up that treating similar properties the same way was a valid reason to decrease an assessment. Since most of the properties don't include ROW in the taxable area, we could use that criterion to change the property tax card for a property that did.
