You Can Appeal an Increase in Your Property Taxes

Your home may be your castle, but even castles require a lot of money to maintain. Apart from paying your mortgage and your homeowners insurance bills, you have to pay for the upkeep of your property -- both inside and outside. Yet another significant expense you must pay every year without fail -- your property taxes.

A property tax is a tax paid on land and buildings owned by an individual or other legal entity, such as a corporation. It is levied by local governments -- villages, towns, and cities -- and is used to pay for various public services. Specifically, property taxes are used to:

• Help build and maintain schools and pay for teachers' salaries
• Pay for law enforcement, fire service, emergency response services, and libraries
• Construct and maintain roads
• Build and support public parks, community athletic fields, and other recreational facilities
• Pay for sewer and storm-water management and other infrastructure

A property's assessed value for property tax purposes is an estimate of its market value. Assessed value may be determined based on the sales prices of comparable properties in the area, what it would cost to replace the property, or the income that could be earned if the property were rented. Some communities impose their tax on the entire assessed value of the property, while others impose the tax on only a fraction of the assessed value.

If you find that you have been hit with what you believe is an unreasonable increase in your property taxes, you have recourse. Here are the steps you need to take.

Look for Errors in the Assessment

Review the details of the assessment in your town or city's records. See if there are errors relating to the square footage of your house or lot size. Have they included outbuildings that are not on your property? Bring any errors you find to the attention of the tax assessor and ensure they are corrected.

Compare Your Home With Similar Neighborhood Homes

Various online real estate sites list recent home sales in communities throughout the country. Use them to look for recently sold neighborhood houses that are similar in size to yours and compare what their owners pay in property taxes to what you pay. Or, you can pay a licensed appraiser to perform an independent value assessment of your property. If the appraiser arrives at a lower value for your property, take that information to your tax assessor.

Look for Exemptions

Various localities will exempt property owned by deployed military personnel or their spouses. Other towns and villages will reduce or cap property taxes for veterans or for seniors. It is up to the homeowner to seek out and apply for these property tax exemptions.