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Property inspections delayed

JANESVILLE — Staff will ask the Janesville City Council to delay a planned revaluation and to reconsider whether the city should conduct individual property inspections.

Property inspections were scheduled to begin late last winter or early this spring at an estimated cost of $800,000 to $1.5 million. Richard Haviza, assessment operations manager, said the cost likely has increased.

The city was last revalued in 2002, when some angry residents claimed the results were inequitable and gathered enough signatures to touch off a state investigation of the process. The state gave the city high marks but said it could improve its communication with the public.

Two years later, a referendum was defeated that would have changed the city's form of government to a mayoral system. Experts then said such movements typically grow from unhappiness over revaluations.

The city was last in compliance with state regulations in 2004, and staff initially thought the revaluation had to be completed in 2009 for the 2010 tax role, Haviza said. Taxes are based on the value of the property on Jan. 1.

But staff has since learned that a revaluation could be done in 2010 for the 2011 tax roll.

And the process of the state telling a municipality to get back into compliance could extend the deadline another three to five years, Haviza said.

In October, Haviza told council members the city must revalue this year or be out of compliance with state rules. At that time, the council supported individual property inspections.

The city last did individual property inspections in 1996 and 1997 for the 1998 assessment role.

But to save money, the council might want to reconsider inspecting every property, Haviza said. The city has about 21,000 residential parcels and 1,300 to 1,400 commercial parcels. Haviza did not yet know how much money the city could save.

Instead of mass property inspections, the city could do a market revaluation. As is normal practice, some properties would be inspected—new buildings, buildings for which building permits were issued and buildings recently sold. But values for most properties would be set based, for example, on property type, location and the sale prices of comparable properties. Staff likely would conduct curbside reviews to verify data, he said.

The issue likely will go to the council in May.

"We've gotten to the point where it didn't make any sense to go to the current council but wait until after the election to talk to the new council," Haviza said.

If the council chooses to go ahead with individual inspections, they would begin in late summer or early fall, Haviza said.