Iron Mountain, Mich. (WZMQ) – The City of Iron Mountain’s homeowners are probably aware that property taxes are due today, however it came as a shock to many that property values have increased in taxable and assessed value this year. The Iron Mountain City Assessor, Abbey Taylor, said that she has seen her voicemail box fill up since the assessment notices went out.
“I’ve been getting a lot of calls about the assessed value going up, and the taxable value going up. So with the assessed value, that is based off of the assessor’s manual,” Taylor explained. She added that the manual tells the basic value across the state to build that house, but its not accurate everywhere in Michigan, so then there is a county multiplier for Dickinson County. That multiplier is based on the county’s study of the market. Her office does a study that creates the economic condition factor, or ECF.
The ECF accounts for the value fluctuations of different neighborhoods in the area. For example, homes in the Northside, Lake Antoine, and the west side of Iron Mountain would have different values even if they were similar in every other aspect.
“And then there is the taxable value,” she added. “This is what actually determines the tax dollars that you pay. Taxable value is capped, which means that it only rises at the rate of inflation, or 5%, whichever is less, unless it’s the year after a sale.” Taylor explained that the year after a sale, the taxable value uncaps and then becomes the assessed value.
“So with the rate of inflation being 7.9% this year, we are lucky that we have that cap on there that only can go up to 5%. The taxable value has risen 5% across the whole state of Michigan. Everybody in the state of Michigan went up 5%,” she commented. That 7.9% inflation rate can be found in the state’s consumer price index, according to Taylor.
Taylor explained that people are paying on the taxable value, which is multiplied by the millage rate. The millage rate, which is one dollar per thousand, changes a little bit, but not like what we are seeing with these inflation rates. The Assessor has noticed that much of what property owners are seeing with the changes in assessed values are from an influx in sales with the housing market during the pandemic.
“With Covid, there has been an influx in sales, and they’ve been selling quite high. So, our sales analysis is based off of ’21 and ’22 for this current year. It is a 2-year sales study, and we do it every year. This influx has slowly died down now, but most of the value for ’23 is being based on the ’21 and ’22 sales…those sales were quite high, and there were a lot of them,” she remarked.
Taylor shared that for folks who are concerned that their assessment is not accurate, may come to the March Board of Review to appeal. The reviews are on March 15th from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm central and March 17th from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm central.
She added that property owners may bring in an appraisal if they have one within 6 months to a year. Property owners may also bring in pictures but they must have a date, and phone photos are acceptable.
The Iron Mountain City Assessor can be reached at assessor@cityofironmountain.com or by calling the City Hall.
