Assessor
The official who values property for tax purposes.
The assessor values every property in a jurisdiction, usually with mass-appraisal models rather than individual inspections. Most homes are never visited.
That is not a criticism, it is the reason appeals exist and succeed. A model applied to thousands of properties will be wrong about some of them, and the appeal process is the mechanism for correcting the ones it got wrong.
An assessor is not your opponent in a personal sense. Many will correct a clear record error without a hearing if you show them.
Related
- Mass appraisal — Valuing thousands of properties by model rather than one at a time.
- Board of review — The local body that hears assessment appeals first.
- Record error — The county's file says your home is something it is not.
Property tax is state law and the details differ. For what applies where you live, see coverage by state and your appeal deadline.