ASSESSOR

Jill Brown, MAAO – Township Assessor
231-881-4000
townshipassessing@benzoniatownship.gov

Please email or call and leave a voicemail and allow 1-2 business days for a reply.

To minimize expenses of hiring a full-time assessor as an employee, Benzonia Township has elected to hire a contract assessing officer with a central office located externally from the Township’s hall.

The assessor’s four basic duties are:

  • To inventory and list all property within the assessment jurisdiction.
  • To equitably evaluate every item of taxable property.
  • To calculate the taxable value for every taxable property.
  • To prepare an assessment roll with all taxable property listed in an orderly fashion by parcel number or legal description.

Jill Brown, MAAO – Township Assessor
231-881-4000
townshipassessing@gmail.com

Please email or call and leave a voicemail and allow 1-2 business days for a reply.

To minimize expenses of hiring a full-time assessor as an employee, Benzonia Township has elected to hire a contract assessing officer with a central office located externally from the Township’s hall.

The assessor’s four basic duties are:

  • To inventory and list all property within the assessment jurisdiction.
  • To equitably evaluate every item of taxable property.
  • To calculate the taxable value for every taxable property.
  • To prepare an assessment roll with all taxable property listed in an orderly fashion by parcel number or legal description.

DOCS-ON-DEMAND

CLICK LINKS BELOW

Land Division:

Assesement Change Notices:

Property Record Cards :

Sales Studies
& Documentation:

Personal Property Change Notices:

Additional Contact Information

Website: www.townshipassessing.com

Mail to be addressed to:
     Township Assessing
     1196 Ranger Dr.
     Gladwin, MI 48624

Forms and Information

For additional forms and information please follow the link below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. If you did not submit your form to the assessor in time to have the exemption added to your property record, you may petition the July or December Board of Review to request the exemption.

Assessments are required by law to be re-set on an annual basis. An Assessed Value (AV) is an estimated 50% of the True Cash Value (TCV) or Market Value for the property as determined by a market analysis of a collection of sales that have occurred in a specific 2-year time frame. The Assessed Value will increase/decrease annually based on the real estate market analysis and should not be expected to remain stagnant, unless the real estate market is such.

In an ever-changing real estate market, Assessed Values should be expected to change from year to year. The TAXABLE Value is what can’t increase by more than 5% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lessor of the two, unless there has been an ownership transfer of the property, or there is new construction or missing improvements that have been added to the tax roll.

Property Taxes are calculated based on “Taxable Value”, which has a cap increase every year limited to the rate of inflation, or 5%, whichever is lessor of the two, unless there has been an ownership transfer of the property, or there is new construction or missing improvements that have been added to the tax roll. The longer an owner owns a property, especially in an improving real estate market, the bigger differences there can be between their Assessed Value and Taxable Value. For example, Neighbor A has owned their home for 5 years and has an assessment of $120,000, but their Taxable Value is at $95,000 because the tax cap increase would have only been into effect for their property from the year after their purchase of it. Neighbor B purchased their home 30 years ago and has an assessment of $240,000, but because their Taxable Value has only increased annually by the rate of inflation, their Taxable Value could only be at $38,000, which would result in a much lower tax bill, despite the value difference.

Assessment Change Notices are mailed out to taxpayer in February to inform them of the changes in their assessment and taxable values for the upcoming tax year. Property assessments are appealed to the March Board of Review. This is held every year by law beginning on the second Monday in March. Caledonia Township generally has two days of hearings. You may appeal in person or by letter. If you wish to appeal in person, you must call for an appointment. The March Board of Review has the ability to correct assessments, change property classification and grant poverty and veteran exemptions. If a residential property is not appealed to the march Board of Review, the assessment is final until the following year.

The law is specific in stating that it is illegal for Assessors in Michigan to set property values based individually based on what the property selling price is. The law further defines the True Cash Value (Market Value) as the usual selling price of a property. The Legislature and the Courts have very clearly stated that the actual selling price is not a controlling factor in the True Cash Value or State Equalized Value as calculated by the assessor. For this reason, when analyzing sales for determining assessment changes, the assessor will review all sales, but excludes sales that are not arms-length transactions, meaning the property was not available to the public on the open real estate market, from the assessment analysis.

A land division application must be completely filled out and returned along with the appropriate fees and a professionally certified land survey detailing the proposed division, including updated legal descriptions for each new parcel created, and an updated legal for the remaining parcel. Questions regarding minimum size requirements for the township should be directed to the Zoning Administrator. The number of splits allowed per the State Land Division Act depends on the size of the parcel being divided and the last time the parcel was divided. Upon review of the completed application, a written response of approval or disapproval will be mailed to the property owner within 45 days of receipt of the completed application. If approved, the new legal descriptions need to be recorded with the County Register of Deeds with-in 90 days of the approval, or the process starts over.