This may be of interest to the list. We received our property tax assessment last week and for the second year in a row, they have raised the taxable value of our home by the maximum 10%. There is no way homes in Bloomingdale are gaining in value 10% each year in this economy. Last year I fought the assessment and won. Sadly, I'm gearing up to do it all over again.
Overtaxing residents is not the way to make up for budget shortfalls. I'd be curious to see if others are seeing their tax assessed values raised the maximum amount as well. Hopefully everyone pays attention to those bills.
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Friday, March 05, 2010
did your Bloomingdale property tax assessment increase this year?
From a resident on the unit block of U Street NW:
The taxable value of our home was increased by 10%, too. I read the appeal info on the back of the statement. How difficult was it to go through the appeals process?
ReplyDeleteI live on Rhode Island Ave nw and mine went down, although I don't remember the percentage.
ReplyDeleteI'm the original poster... Overall, not so tough, but a big inconvenience. I sent in the appeal form and then scheduled a meeting. We had just refinanced so the taxable value was 10% over the previous years, but about 16% over the bank's appraiser's estimate. I went to the meeting with a copy of our assessment and comps from the neighborhood. After about 8 weeks I found out I won and they dropped it from the previous year. It seems to be a pretty random system of what gets raised and what doesn't talking to some of our neighbors. Overall they were nice enough about it, but I hope I don't have to do it every year.
ReplyDeleteI am now consistently advising my Buyer clients to contest their tax bills as soon as possible after settlement if what they paid is less than the current assessment.
ReplyDeleteMy assessment went way down this year. I wanted to make sure that people are referring to actual 10% increases in the valuation, and not to their taxes increasing by 10%?
If you bought your house when the assessment was low and qualified for the homestead (owner occupant) deduction, it is possible to see what you pay increase each year until you are caught up to the current assessed value.
I AM OUTRAGED AND WILL VOTE FOR ANYONE WHO IS NOT SEATED ON CITY COUNCIL AND ANYNOE OTHER THAN FENTY.I GOT MY HOME YEARS AGO UNDER TAX INCENTIVES FOR BEING A POLICE OFFICER LIVING IN THIS CRIME RIDIN CITY.I SIGNED CONTRACTS AND OTHER PAPERWORK WHICH NOW MEANS NOTHING.IF I RENEGED ON A CONTRACT WITH DC GOVERNMENT, THEY WOULD HAVE MY HEAD.EVERYONE HAS BEEN BROUGHT UP TO 40 PERCENT OF ASSESED VALUE AND TAXED ON THAT-I WOULD HAVE NO PROBLEM IF THATS WHAT I SIGHNED UP FOR YEARS AGO.I HATE LIVING IN THE DISTRICT AND WOULD HAVE MOVED OUT YEARS AGO LIKE OTHER POLICE OFFICERS HAD I KNOWN THEY WERE GOING TO SHAFT ME SUCH AS THEY DID.HONOR YOUR CONTRACT,YOU MAKE ME HONOR MINE
ReplyDeleteI'm also on RI Ave NW and ours went down, but it was less than 10%. Off the top of my head I'd say it was about 7.5%
ReplyDeleteOur assement (house valuation) went down 10.5% from 2010 to 2011. What puzzles us is that our tax bill went up 71.2% from 2009 to 2010. We don't understand why?
ReplyDeleteWe are still recieving the homestead deduction. The office of tax and revenue told us to contact the assessor. We'll do this on Monday, but this doesn't seem quite right since the problem is in how the tax seems to be calculated. Anybody else have the same issue or have advice?
@ U Street, Resident
ReplyDeleteThe reason the amount owed went up while the taxable assessment went down is that the council approved a bill that states that homeowners must pay at least 40% of the assessed value of the property. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/26/AR2010022605706.html
If you were benefitting from some serious deductions in the past, this legislation wiped some of those deductions out.