Waunakee Board of Review upholds assessor valuations, orders corrections to 15 roll errors

The Waunakee Board of Review on Sept. 19 accepted a verbal summary of the village assessor’s interim market update, upheld the assessor’s valuation in an objection hearing for a Wexford Drive homeowner and authorized notices and a follow-up meeting to correct roughly 15 assessment-roll errors created after a software change.

The village’s assessor told the board the 2025 interim market update revalued all properties based on sales through Jan. 1, 2025, without new field inspections. The assessor said assessments rose broadly and that “assessments did go up, I think, on average about 24%,” a change driven by stronger land growth in older neighborhoods. Later data the assessor provided showed an average residential land increase of 29.49% and improvements (structures) up 21.85% across the village.

The update is distinct from the village levy, assessor staff told the board, and the assessment process does not by itself change the tax levy. “The taxes, the amount of the tax collection, the tax levy would be the same whether a revaluation were done or not in that given year,” a village assessor said, explaining that equalized values and levy distribution are handled by the Department of Revenue.

The board heard an in-person objection from Maria Pat of 1000 Wexford Drive, who said the recent jump in her land…