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Staff recommends keeping annual property assessments; council agrees to retain yearly cycle
Summary
After a staff review of 1-, 2- and 4-year assessment intervals, councilors agreed to keep annual real-estate assessments, citing accuracy, the ability to adjust tax rates annually, and the new C3 AI tool to improve equity — staff will revisit tax-relief limits during the next budget cycle.
City staff briefed the governing body on Nov. 18 about potential changes to the city’s real-estate assessment interval (options of annual, every two years or every four years) and recommended retaining annual assessments.
Staff summarized the legal framework permitting jurisdictions with populations of 30,000 or fewer to change intervals, surveyed peer cities, and stressed the tradeoffs: less-frequent assessments can reduce administrative workload but lock in valuations for multiple years and increase the risk that taxpayers are exposed to larger swings when markets decline. The presentation included state-level housing-market charts from 1990–2024 to illustrate that downturns can be steep and recoveries slow.
Staff also noted the forthcoming adoption of a C3 AI assessment tool intended to improve valuation accuracy and flatten historical biases in assessment practices. Council members discussed possible consumer advantages of a two-year cycle (stability for homeowners) and possible affordability strategies but many on the dais worried about locking the city into multi-year assessments during a period of rapid local development. Several councilors said they preferred keeping annual assessments; staff said it will revisit tax-relief limits during the budget process and offer outreach for residents who see substantial assessment changes under the new system.
No ordinance change was adopted at the meeting; the governing body expressed consensus to retain the current annual cycle and asked staff to return with recommendations on tax-relief thresholds during the next budget process.
