By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

If you haven't gotten a notice stating that your home's value has increased, you're one of the lucky few.

Fayette County tax assessors have reevaluated all of the approximately 34,600 properties in the county, and have sent out about 33,000 reassessment notices, according to chief assessor Ellen Mills.

Some residents whose homes were assigned new tax values last year or the year before may be surprised at being hit with higher assessments again so soon, many of the increases in double digits, but Mills said the county assessors are required by state law to keep their assessments current.

And with modern technology, the state can easily tell if the assessors are doing their job.

“It has to do with the fact that Fayette has so many home sales every year,” said Mills. “There are about 3,000 sales each year, and they can measure how close [the county's tax records] are to those 3,000,” she said.

The state requires that counties maintain a tax digest that is within a few percentage points of 40 percent of the fair market value of their properties, she said. “You can be as low as 36 percent or as high as 44,” she said.

If state officials determine that the county has fallen below 36 percent, fines will result, she added. Since Fayette was slipping below that 36 percent level this year, a revaluation was necessary, she said.

Assessors use several yardsticks to determine fair market value for each property in the county, Mills said, but there's always the possibility that some unknown factor could affect a home's value.

“They could have accelerated depreciation, bad water, termite damage... If they need for us to come out and evaluate, we will,” she said.

An appeal process also is available to anyone who wants to dispute the valuation, she added.

For information, phone 770-460-5730, extension 5402.