Putnam Co. Property Appraisals Calls Less Than Usual

Not many appeals of Putnam County property assessments…yet.

Putnam County Assessor of Property Steve Pierce said that calls for both appraisals and informal reappraisals are happening later than usual this year across the state.

“Everybody is calling late, especially on our commercial end–a lot of our commercials would have already been calling previously in years in the last appraisal of 2016,” Pierce said. “This year they’ve been calling late and we’re just now getting some calls from some of the commercial properties.”

Pierce said that while they have had informal calls, there are currently no formal appeal meetings scheduled. Pierce said he expects most calls for both informal and formal appeals to come in during the last two weeks of June, before the property assessment office’s June 30th deadline.

Pierce said he wants people to understand that the appraisals and appeals processes are not meant to be adversarial–they’re methods and procedures from the state used to make sure real estate values reflect the real estate market.

“Five years ago the real estate market was not as nearly as strong, the value was not as high–lumber was always high, the cost to build was always high,” Pierce said. “Our values now–by law–should represent market values now and what our market values are today.”

Pierce said that he does expect the percent increase to be larger than previous years–as it will across the state–to account for the increase in property value in Putnam County. Pierce said the next steps are finalizing the residential informal appeals, and working through the commercial properties’ income and cost appraisals.

“We’re just making appointments here and trying to do organizational things,” Pierce said.

Pierce said they plan on having at least a portion of day’s worth of meetings to ensure everyone is satisfied with the appraised values of their properties.