http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/107274/tax-bill-appeals-take-rising-toll-on-governments.html?mod=taxes-filingHomeowners across the country are challenging their property tax bills in droves as the value of their homes drop, threatening local governments with another big drain on their budgets.
The requests are coming in record numbers, from owners of $10 million estates and one-bedroom bungalows, from residents of the high-tax enclaves surrounding New York City, and from taxpayers in the Rust Belt and states like Arizona, Florida and California, where whole towns have been devastated by the housing bust.
The revenue losses are coming as homeowners prod towns for new assessments, and as municipalities conduct regular revaluations of their real estate. While declining residential values weigh heaviest on many governments, the value of commercial real estate is also sliding as businesses shut down and move out of storefronts or shopping malls.
In San Bernardino County, CA my neighbor told me the county was proactively reassessing homes about 10 months ago. She received a letter stating that values had declined, and the county was therefore reducing her property taxes. Now owners are asking for new reassessments as the county didn't account for how far values would fall. I suppose the county will save some money as a lot of people will think the preemptive reduction is all they're entitled to.
