Abatement Process

If you Disagree with Your Assessment, File for an Abatement

There is no perfect assessment. From time-to-time errors of fact or judgment may occur. The state provides an abatement process which allows taxpayers to present arguments, supported by sales or other data, that their assessments are too high, or they have been disproportionately assessed.

Abatements are granted only for the current fiscal year, so you must file an abatement request for each fiscal year you disagree with your assessment. If an abatement request is granted to correct an error on the property record card, you will not need to reapply for an abatement the following year.




  1. How your bill is calculated
  2. Filing for an Abatement

Quarterly Billing

For any fiscal year the assessment date is January 1 of the previous year. The assessors determine the value and the owner of each parcel as of the assessment date. State law mandates that the owner as of this date must appear on each of the four bills. Subsequent owners can be billed in a "care of" fashion.  For Example: Fiscal Year 2023 runs from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. The assessment date is January 1, 2022, and is based on calendar year 2021 data. 

Preliminary Bills

Preliminary bills will be mailed on or about July 1 (first quarter) and October 1 (second quarter). These bills are an estimated bill based on the state of your property on the June 30th before the start of the new fiscal year (July 1).

How to Calculate Your Preliminary Bill

Multiply your current value, times last year's tax rate, times 52.5%. Then divide by two to get your q 1 and q 2 bills.

Actual Bills

Actual bills will be mailed on or about January 1 (third quarter) and April 1 (fourth quarter). These bills will show the assessed value of your property, the tax rate, the total amount of taxes due for the fiscal year, including any betterments or liens. The fourth quarter bill concludes the fiscal year billing cycle.

How to Calculate Your Actual Bill

Multiply the assessed value by the applicable tax rate and divide by 1,000. Add any additional charges, subtract the two preliminary payments made and divide the remainder by two. Your actual bills are payable in two equal installments.