Property Assessment

Overview

Every year, the listers (or the appointed assessor if there has been a vote to eliminate the office of Lister) prepare the town’s “grand list,” which is a list of all of the real property and taxable personal property in the town and the appraised valuation of that property.

In 2022, the Town of Sheldon voted to eliminate the office of Lister and have the selectboard appoint a professional assessor.

Any aggrieved person who disagrees with the appraisal of their property can request a hearing before the listers (or assessor). 32 V.S.A. § 4221. If they are not satisfied with the written decision the listers (or assessor) issue following that hearing, they may appeal to the Board of Civil Authority (BCA). 32 V.S.A. § 4404(a). 32 V.S.A. § 4404(a).

The BCA must hold a hearing and conduct a site inspection of every parcel of property that is the subject of an appeal. 32 V.S.A.§ 4404(c). The BCA may sustain, increase, or decrease the value of the property set by the listers. 32 V.S.A § 4409. A decision issued by the BCA may be appealed to the State Appraiser or to Superior Court. 32 V.S.A.§ 4461.

What property is assessed?

How is property assessed?

Generally speaking, property is to be appraised at its fair market value. Fair market value is defined as the price which the property will bring in the market when offered for sale and purchased by another, taking into consideration all the elements of the availability of the property, its use both potential and prospective, any functional deficiencies, and all other elements such as age and condition which combine to give property a market value.

When is property assessed?

Which properties are inspected?

Listers (or assessors) typically inspect and re-assess only those properties that have somehow changed in the past year. For example: a building lot could be sold off from an existing property creating a new parcel; a homeowner could build an addition or new outbuilding; two or more property owners could agree to a boundary line adjustment. Each of these examples could change the assessed value of one or more parcels. Properties that were inspected and assessed in a previous year and have not undergone any change maintain their previously assessed value.

When are properties inspected?

Typically, if an improvement has been added to a property (e.g. a new home, an addition, a deck, or a shed), the assessor will try to inspect it soon after the project is completed. Properties that are still under construction are usually inspected as close to April 1st as possible to ensure the most accurate assessment.

Property owners are notified in advance that a property will be inspected. They may choose to be present on site during the inspection, but this is not required.

What is reappraisal?

Listers (or assessors) maintain data on each parcel within a town, which the State of Vermont Department of Taxes monitors to determine whether properties throughout the state are being assessed equitably. The state may determine that a town's current assessments are inequitable, and therefore the town will need to do one of the following forms of reappraisal:

A complete reappraisal is a re-assessment of all town properties including the following:
- interior property inspections
- development of new land and building pricing schedules
- adjustments and factors.

The goal must be to implement new values for all properties that reflect 100% of fair market value.

Rolling reappraisal or (Cyclical Reappraisal) is a type of complete reappraisal. What differentiates a rolling reappraisal from a complete reappraisal is that it is conducted and implemented over more than one year.
Statistical update is a revaluation of all town properties but unlike a complete reappraisal does not require on-site property inspections except to confirm validity of data for a sample of properties. The goal must be to implement new values for all properties to reflect 100% of fair market value. If building permits are not required in your municipality and there is no program of systematic re-inspection of all property, this is likely not an acceptable method of establishing equitable values as any inequities that currently exist within the grand list may be magnified using a statistical update.
Partial reappraisal is a reappraisal activity that by design is targeted to either less than all properties in a town or adjustments to a limited number of factors that will result in a change of value but will generally not result in bringing the entire municipality to 100% market value. The goal of a partial reappraisal is to improve the appraisal equity among specific categories, types and/or neighborhoods of properties within a town by bringing them to approximately the same level of appraisal as the rest of the properties in that town.