Property Assessment and Taxation

What is the difference between annual assessment and general assessment?

Annual assessments reflect any changes in property value for that year.  Adding or removing improvements may increase or decrease a property’s value, and the annual assessment reflects this.

A general assessment looks at more than improvements to properties, and must happen within 10 years of the previous general assessment.  A general assessment takes into account factors like inflation, deflation, and other factors that can change the value of a property over time that are not necessarily related to the land or improvements (like a change of zoning etc.). Once a general assessment is complete, new assessed values for all property using that common base year is created, and is the basis on which annual assessments are done.