The City has selected Associated Appraisal Consultants, Inc. (AAC) to perform the 2025 revaluation following a review and selection process. This firm has been chosen based on their proven expertise in municipal property assessments and strong reputation with numerous successful engagements with other municipalities in Wisconsin including being hired by DOR to conduct a supervised assessment for municipalities not in compliance. AAC will physically inspect 100% of all commercial properties and update the assessment records to ensure that the values reflect recent market value sales utilizing mass appraisal methods. A full inspection will include both interior and exterior walkthroughs to update pictures and sketches of the properties. AAC will assist the city with Open Book, Board of Review (BOR), and marketing for the revaluation as it relates to commercial properties. Internal city staff will complete the revaluation for the residential property class as they did for the 2024 revaluation.
What Steps Will Be Taken to Ensure Compliance in 2025?
2025 is the last year Oshkosh will be able to come into DOR statutory compliance on assessed value without triggering a supervised revaluation. Wisconsin Statutes 70.05(5)(g) states if a municipality’s assessed value of each major class of property is not within 10 percent of the full value of the same major class of property by the second year, the DOR will order a specially supervised revaluation under 70.75(3). All costs borne with the reassessment are borne by the municipality. If DOR personnel are not able to do the revaluation themselves, they will contract it out to a third party of their choosing and the City will pay all expenses related to DOR staff and the contracted party completing the revaluation. This will cost the city significantly more then doing the reassessment ourselves.
City staff have been in contact with the DOR as to what steps can be taken in 2025 and beyond to decrease the likelihood of a DOR mandated revaluation in 2026. The DOR and AAC have both suggested that the Board of Review be moved to a later date in the year, after the equalized values have been released by the DOR. This was not done in 2024 and may have partially contributed to the issues experienced. This change will more than likely decrease the likelihood of a DOR mandated revaluation in 2026 significantly as it provides an opportunity to discuss the equalized value figures that DOR established before the city’s assessed values are established. DOR also recommended that AAC and city staff reach out to DOR in late spring/early summer 2025 to discuss various factors that AAC and city staff are seeing/planning to use when preparing for the 2025 revaluation. Communicating with DOR early in the process will ensure that the DOR, AAC, and the City are using similar factors and methodology when establishing each organization’s respective equalized value and assessed value.
Staff is taking many actions to prevent a possible revaluation in 2026, and the plan remains to be compliant as of 2025 going forward. Actions are being taken internally and externally to prevent a state-mandated revaluation in 2026. This includes having protections built into the contract with AAC that contain the following language:
- Requirement to regularly communicate with DOR to confirm sales, market growth, and other factors being considered for the equalized value are similar to the figures that AAC is utilizing for the assessed values. Separately from AAC, city staff will also communicate regularly with DOR to ensure the factors being used to establish the residential equalized value is similar to what staff is utilizing to establish the residential assessed value.
- Meet WI Statute 70.05(5) which states that the valuation for a municipality’s two largest major classes (commercial and residential for Oshkosh) must be within 10% of equalized values established by the DOR. AAC will ensure that the commercial major class is within 10% of the equalized value and internal city staff will ensure that the residential major class is within 10% of the equalized value.
- A specific timeline has been established to follow DOR’s schedule when they release the equalized value in order to ensure that the equalized value figures have been released before the city’s assessed values are finalized. This order of events will allow changes to be made within the equalized value or assessed value, based on conversations with DOR. Notice of Changed Assessments will be sent to property owners in late August/early September 2025 and Open Book will take place in late September/early October 2025. Finally, the Board of Review will meet in October if there are property owners who would like to appeal their value. All aspects of the revaluation will be completed by October 31, 2025.
- Specific terms have been written into the agreement under "City Remedies upon Event of Default" which specify that if there is a failure to meet the above requirements, AAC shall provide maintenance Commercial assessment services at no cost in 2026. This has a value of $67,500.
Public Outreach
Public outreach will be vital with back-to-back revaluation years. AAC has extensive experience with public outreach and social media engagement. Not only does AAC share items on its own social media platforms, the City will have the option to share on its social media platforms as well. Social media will not be the only notification device utilized. AAC’s website also has a wealth of relatable information easily digested by residents that help make the assessment process more understandable that the City will be able to share and direct residents to. AAC will also provide the City with an online toolkit to assist when it is needed to reach out to residents. In addition to AAC’s tools, the City will utilize Oshkosh Media, community events, city hall brochures/public messaging screens, and community partners to help share information about the upcoming revaluation. All of these items will be beneficial in helping to inform property owners as to why another revaluation is required in 2025.
Looking Beyond 2025
Every year the City must inform the DOR as to what type of assessment year it was. There are four assessment options that are listed in increasing order of work required: 1) Maintenance year, 2) Interim Market Update, 3) External Revaluation, and 4) External and Internal Revaluation. The DOR has suggested looking into the option of completing regular Interim Market Updates to stay on top of trends more easily. Interim Market Updates allow communities to reassess properties that have any changes (change in status, new constructions, permits pulled etc.) and also are required to complete an analysis of problem strata (neighborhoods) identified from a previous assessment year. This allows municipalities to remain conscious of assessment value changes and adjustments that may be required.
There are numerous advantages to interim market updates. Once there are quality property and assessment records in place (typically following a revaluation year), staff looks at the assessed value of all properties in the City and will use statistical data, sales data, and any other information that may impact values to determine if the assessed value needs to be adjusted. It does not require a physical inspection of each parcel. The assessors will still inspect any parcels that have had some kind of change such as a building permit pulled.
There are minor disadvantages to this option, as they occur more often than a full revaluation, require more staff time and resources than a typical maintenance year, and will cost more for commercial if we continue to market that out. Cost should be less than a full revaluation but slightly more than a maintenance year. |
