MACo Associate Director, Barbara Zektick, testified in support with amendments of Senate Bill 10 – Property Tax Assessments – Physical Inspection of Property, before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee on January 18, 2018.

This bill would repeal the requirement that the State Department of Assessment of Taxation (SDAT) assess the value of a property through a physical inspection of every property within a three year period of time. Instead, the bill requires SDAT to review each property within that same three-year window. Physical inspections of property can still be requested of SDAT in certain circumstances, including: upon completion of significant improvements on a property, recent sale of a property, an active appeal from the property owner, or at the discretion of SDAT.

From MACo Testimony:

“MACo agrees with SDAT that regular physical inspections of every property are no longer necessary…However, it is extremely important to counties that SDAT uses resources saved from these advances and applies them toward assessing the value of new construction and improvements in a timely manner. This allows counties to tax properties more fairly, based upon their actual value at the time. Therefore, MACo requests the following amendment:

(3) The Department shall perform a physical inspection under subsections (2)(I) or (2)(II) above within thirty days of receipt of notice from a local government with authority to tax the property at issue.“

Follow MACo’s advocacy efforts during the 2018 legislative session here.