PROPERTY ASSESSMENT
 Of the Dave and Jill Brown assessing partnership, Jill is the team member who will greet you during office hours.
NEED HELP? HAVE
SOME QUESTIONS? Our assessors encourage you to chat with them. So, do not hesitate to contact Jill and Dave if you have need of further assistance than this page can provide. Jill Brown, MAAO – Michigan Certified Assessing Officer Dave Brown, MAAO - Michigan Advanced Assessing Officer Phone: (231) 881-4000 Email: township[email protected] Mailing Address: 1196 Ranger Drive, Gladwin MI 49624
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UNDERSTANDING PROPERTY ASSESSMENT: The Assessing Department is responsible for identifying and valuing all taxable real and personal property within the township. The Assessor determines values through an analysis of recently sold properties. By law, assessments must be set at 50% of the True Cash Value. There are three key value components to each property. These must be calculated by our assessors every year.
In addition, the Assessing Department is responsible for
Assessment change notices are mailed annually (mid-February). This is the taxpayer’s opportunity to review important information pertaining to the property. Please be sure to examine valuations, classifications, legal descriptions and exemption status. Want to protest your assessment? The citizen's review panel is called the Board of Review. Please go to that page for full details. 
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS:
HOW ARE MY PROPERTY TAXES CALCULATED? The property taxes are based on the number of mills being levied by a taxing authority, such as schools, townships, county, etc., plus any additional mills that voters have passed for things such as road maintenance, fire & rescue, libraries, etc. Property taxes are calculated as follows: 1 mill = $1.00 per $1,000 of “Taxable Value.”
My neighbor’s house is twice as big and they have twice as much property but I pay twice as much in taxes than they do. Why?
Property “taxable values” were created in 1994 with the passing of Proposal A, and have remained “capped," or have only increased annually by the rate of inflation, since then. If someone has owned their property since 1994, they are paying taxes on what their values were in 1994 plus the annual rate of inflation. The longer a person owns their home the larger difference there can be between the assessed value and taxable values.
My Assessed Value jumped 30%. Did I misunderstand that it could go up only so high?
Property assessments are required by law to be recalculated on an annual basis. Assessed values do not have a direct “cap”, other than what the real estate market is indicating. Unless the property sells, the assessed value is based on market analysis and taxable values can still only increase by the rate of inflation or 5%, whichever is the lesser of the two.
I just purchased this property for $300,000 last year and the taxes were only $600. However, this year the taxes jumped to $2400. Why the big increase?
Out of state buyers are frequently the most shocked when the new tax bill comes for the year following their purchase. This is because the year of their purchase they will continue to pay taxes based on the former owner’s taxable value. The year after their purchase the Taxable Value “uncaps” to the assessed value. Plus, if the property was the primary residence of the former owner, and it is a second home for the new owners, the new owners will not be exempt from the 18 mills of the local school operating tax.
