Webb appraiser: reassessment changes assessed values, not the municipal levy

At a public presentation on Webb’s reassessment project, Robert Kar said the municipal budget — not the reassessment — sets the levy. "The tax levy is the amount of money that has to be raised through taxation of the property owners," he said, explaining that other revenue sources are subtracted from the budget to arrive at the levy.

Kar described how the tax rate is then calculated by dividing the levy by the town’s total taxable value. "When people think that the town's doing the reassessment because they want to raise more money, these things are determined independently," he said, stressing that a reassessment changes assessed values but the levy decision happens separately within the budget process. He advised residents to focus on how a change in assessed value affects their individual tax share once the tax rate is set by the town.