Property Taxes in Wisconsin are often confusing to many landowners. Below is a summary of how properties are assessed and taxes are calculated throughout the year.
- Assessments
- Each municipality contracts with their own assessor to perform maintenance or revaluation work prior to the beginning of each assessment year. Click HERE for a list of assessors working in Lafayette County.
- January - April: Assessors update property assessments based on guidelines laid out in the WI Property Assessment Manual. All assessments for the current year are based on how the property stood on January 1st of that year.
- April-June: Notice of Assessments are mailed. According to 70.365 Wis. Stats., whenever an assessor changes the total assessment of any real property by any amount, the owner must be notified. However, failure to receive a notice does not affect the validity of the changed assessment. The notice must be in writing and mailed at least 15 days (30 days in revaluation years) prior to the Board of Review (BOR) meeting.
- April-June: The assessor, in coordination with the County Real Property Lister, completes the assessment roll and delivers the roll to the municipal clerk to schedule the Open Book and BOR Hearings. If you are unable to meet with your assessor during the spring, you should attend the Open Book. The BOR shall meet during the 45-day period beginning the fourth Monday in April. If you still disagree with your assessment after the Open Book, you may file an objection and appeal to the BOR.
- Later BOR review hearings may occur into fall if the municipality is under going a revaluation.
- Once BOR's are finalized any changes are sent back to the Real Property Lister and the final Statement of Assessment is filed with the WI Department of Revenue for each municipality.
- Taxes
- In late fall, each taxing jurisdiction (schools, municipalities, the County, & the State) sets their levy or the amount of property tax needed to run their respective governments for the next year.
- A tax rate is determined by taking the levy and dividing it by the total assessed value of the given taxing jurisdiction. This becomes known as the mill rate and will be the rate at which your taxes are calculated.
- Late November/Early December each municipality calculates their mill rates and sends this information to the Treasurer's office.
- Mid-December the County Treasurer generates the tax bills and each municipality mails the bills to their residents.
- January 31st - your first installment of taxes are due to your local treasurer. Second installments are due to the County Treasurer July 31st.