Germantown assessor says 2024 revaluation restored assessment uniformity after sharp recent appreciation

Mark Brown, Germantown village assessor, told the General Government and Finance Committee that a 2024 revaluation was performed to bring property assessments back in line with state measures after rapid market appreciation.

The revaluation used calendar-year 2023 and 2024 sales; Brown said the village’s median sales-to-assessment ratio for those sales is about 98%, compared with roughly 77% before the revaluation. He said state monitoring requires assessments to be within 10% of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue’s equalized value “at least once in a 4 year period,” citing Wisconsin statutes that govern assessment equalization.

Brown said assessors validate sales for ratio studies and exclude non-arm’s-length transactions. He told trustees the assessor’s office compiled 272 usable sales for calendar-year 2024. “As an assessor, you know, we’re looking at kind of that midpoint. Right?” Brown said, explaining how the office uses the distribution of sales to set uniform, market-based assessments.

Trustee Terry Kaminski asked whether the 2022–23 market was an abnormal period that could skew valuations. “Wouldn’t you consider those 2 market years truly an aberration from what would be normal?” Kaminski asked. Brown replied that the revaluation must use recent sales and that condominium developments with a cluster of high sales drove larger percentage increases for units in those developments.

Brown provided several concrete figures during the presentation: some individual condominium units required assessment increases of 65% to 94% relative to their prior assessments to align with sale prices; the overall average change after the revaluation was about 40% for the affected properties, he said. He also said that one prior revaluation had put the village at about a 0.03% difference from the Department of Revenue target (that is, essentially equal to the department’s measure) after a prior adjustment.

Brown emphasized that assessment changes reallocate the tax burden among property owners but do not by themselves increase the total levy collected by the village. A staff member present reiterated that when the tax base rises, the village adjusts the tax rate so the total levy remains aligned with budget decisions.

Brown described appeal and transparency processes: assessment notices, an open-book review period, and the board of review. He said the assessor’s office posts sales and assessment comparison data on the village website during the open-book period, and that staff put the same materials at the clerk’s front counter for public inspection. He invited property owners who cannot attend open book in person to call the assessor’s office to review comparable sales.

Why this matters: Revaluations change individual assessed values and therefore the distribution of property tax bills across neighborhoods and property types. Committee members requested continued outreach and clearer online information so residents can find comparison data and understand how sales were used in the ratio study.

The committee did not take formal action on the revaluation; the item was presented as an informational update and staff answered trustees’ questions about methodology, web postings, and how residents can pursue open-book review.