Assessment roll

What is an assessment roll?

An assessment roll is a public record containing the information about property and individual pieces of land within the taxing jurisdiction of an assessing unit. Assessment rolls determine each block’s value and help determine what to tax property owners.

Deeper definition

Assessment rolls compile a list of tax information for every property in a municipality or county, or what’s called assessing units. Information in these documents includes full market value of the parcel and the date in which the valuation was carried out.

The assessment roll helps determine the property’s taxable value after applying the exemptions. Each assessment roll is confirmed by an assessor’s oath on the last page. If a property owner is unhappy with the assessment, she can contest it.

Municipalities usually publish final and tentative assessment rolls annually. Most assessing units publish their tentative rolls on May 1. During this period, people can check their property’s market value as well as any others. The annual property tax bills are created based on the contents of the final assessment roll published on July 1. Taxes determined by the assessment roll go toward funding municipal projects in the relevant neighborhood.

Assessment rolls contain personal home ownership information including the name and telephone number of the property owner and her home address. If the property is a nonprofit institution, its affiliation is also listed, whether religious, educational, or charitable.

How much is your home worth? See how much more you’ll have to pay on your mortgage.

Assessment roll example

Carringdonshire, a municipality in New England, publishes an assessment roll for a block of residential properties on which it’s building a new water main. The city states that it’ll cost $3,500 per lot, and each property owner receives an assessment roll notice saying that she’ll play 4 percent in property taxes over a certain number of years to pay for the construction.