The Jefferson County Property Valuation Administration reassesses real estate on a four-year rotation of nine market areas. The agency also assesses properties recently sold or have undergone construction on a rolling basis.
This year, the PVA has reassessed the values of more than 100,000 properties in areas 6, 8 and 9, which include Prospect, Glenview, Douglass Hills and High View. In total, commercial and residential real estate are worth more than $80 billion. State and local taxes on those properties will help fund public services, like schools and fire departments.
But property value increases can result in higher rent prices, speed up gentrification in a neighborhood and lead to resident displacement.
The county’s Property Valuation Administrator, Colleen Younger, said the agency is trying to make the process more equitable by only comparing homes similar in build, age and maintenance status to one another.
“There's so much restoration going on in neighborhoods around Louisville that people are afraid that they are going to be gentrified out of their homes. And very rightly so,” Younger said. “When a house is sold, or we get permits on a major renovation, those houses go into what is called the renovated house type…properties that are not remodeled are not compared against those that have all the bells and whistles, or are being flipped by an investor.”
However, the PVA assesses homes in clusters, not individually. And sometimes, properties get valued at more than they’re worth. Younger said that’s where the appeals process comes into play.
“We're asking people to document through photographs…any defect that needs to be cured, and estimate that out,” Younger said “They can go through their property document the things that need to be fixed, send that to us in their appeal, and most likely, you know, based on the photographs, they submit, it will be successful.”
Younger said issues residents should be documenting include:
- Leaks
- Aged HVAC systems
- Exterior and foundational problems, including defective roofs, gutters and siding
Residents across the county — even those whose properties were not reassessed this year — have until May 16 to submit an appeal to the PVA.
