The deadline for Louisville residents to appeal their new property valuations has been extended from May 18 to May 29.
Some property owners in the Crescent Hill, Germantown, Butchertown and Highlands neighborhoods—as well as others—were given hefty increases in their property values this year.
The Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator’s office assesses home values in quadrants—so every four years. This year, about 66,000 homes in Louisville were assessed and some areas saw alarming increases—ranging from 30, 40 to even 150 percent.
PVA staff said these numbers are based on home sales in the same neighborhood of the home being assessed.
Colleen Younger, chief of staff for the PVA, said the office is seeing a spike in appeals. So far, about 2,800 appeals have been submitted. She said she expects to see that double that by the end of the appeals period.
The increases have caught the attention of the Metro Council, and others. Younger said the appeals period will be extended and the office has added staffing and locations for those submissions.
The PVA’s office recently announced it will have at the Crescent Hill and Highlands/Shelby Park libraries to help property owners complete the PVA online property appeal application.
Because of all the attention some of these big increases are getting, Younger said the office is also going to take another look at some of the spikes.
“So, we know that there are some anomalies out there with this sales data,” she said. “Those that have gone up over 30 percent—we are going back and taking a look at those to see what happened there.”
During a committee meeting last week, Metro Council members said the PVA’s office should be assessing those spikes prior to sending out new assessment notices.
Higher assessment values mean higher property taxes down the road. So, many property owners are facing a significantly higher tax bill this year.
Younger said concerned property owners should wait for her office to catch a suspicious increase in value. She said property owners should appeal the valuation by submitting any information the PVA’s office doesn’t have. That includes submitting appraisals and photos.
“Anyone who had a property assessment increase above 25 or 30 percent, please appeal your property,” Younger said. “We want you to. We need for you to do that in order to let us know that these anomalies exist out there.”
More information can be found here.