JANESVILLE — The city of Janesville recently mailed out notices of its state-required revaluation, and to many residents, the jump in the assessment of their property was an eye opener.
Most residents, however, won’t see a massive change in their tax bills despite the jump.
Before you jump on Facebook to complain about your increase, a quick check of the city of Janesville’s property tax calculator HERE will give you a better idea of what you’re facing.
CLICK HERE FOR TAX CALCULATOR (Note, don’t use commas when you enter your old and new valuation)
Unfortunately, a little math is required to figure it out.
City Assessor Michelle Laube told the Gazette that generally, the closer a residential property’s new property valuation is to the city’s average 44% increase, the less likely its owner will see a significant hike to their tax bill as a result of this year’s revaluation.
So in the simplest sense, if your valuation went up about 44 percent, and the city, county, schools and Blackhawk Tech spend the same as last year, you won’t see much of a change.
Here’s the math part: To calculate how much your assessment went up: New assessment divided by the old assessment, minus 1.
The closer that number is to .44, the less your taxes are likely to change, as long as government spending remains similar.
At this point, however, it’s anyone’s guess as to how much overall local government spending will change when the next tax bills come out.
Costs for the new jail have yet to hit residents’ tax bills, and if a new ice arena and convention center goes through, taxes will go up for that as well.
On the other hand, a new shared revenue formula currently being debated in Madison could bring extra money to the city that it could use to offset any tax increase.
Stay tuned for that.