PLATE G-001How to appeal on uniformity

You file it yourself, free, without a lawyer. This is what the process is and what evidence it takes.

The argument

A uniformity appeal says the assessor valued your home differently from comparable homes nearby. You are not disputing what your home would sell for. You are pointing at the assessor's own figures for homes of the same class, size and age in the same assessor neighbourhood, and showing that yours carries a higher value per square foot.

Where you file

Two places, in order. The Assessor's office opens each township for a few weeks after values are mailed. If that does not work, the Board of Review opens the same township later. Both are free and both accept filings from the owner. Deadlines run by township, not by county, so the date that matters is the one for yours.

What the evidence is

A short cover statement, your parcel's record, and a table of comparable parcels with their assessed values and square footage. Each comparable needs its parcel number so the reviewer can pull it up. The comparables have to be genuinely similar: a set chosen only for being cheap is the most common reason an appeal fails, which is why we take the median of every qualifying comparable rather than the ten lowest.

What we do

We build that table from the published roll. The address check is free and tells you whether your home sits above its comparables at all. If it does, the $29 packet is the filled-in evidence: your parcel, ten comparable parcels selected on class, size, age and construction quality, each with its assessed value per square foot, the median, the implied value, and a cover statement citing the county's own figures. You file it. We never file for you and we are not a law firm.

When we will not sell you anything

About seven homes in eight are assessed in line with their comparables. For those the check says so and offers nothing, because there is no argument to make. A packet built on a weak set is worse than no packet: it is the one that loses.