Assessments Up 9% to $30.5 Billion

Milwaukee property owners can expect to get a letter in the mail in the coming days from the Assessor’s Office. Starting Friday the office began mailing 2020 assessments and citywide they’re up over nine percent.

The assessments, which when factored in with the property tax levy, determine the property tax bill for each property. The state-governed process is driven by arms-length property sales of comparable properties and new construction.

Residential property values are up 11.95 percent across the city, according to a city news release. Commercial properties are up 5.33 percent. Industrial property is assessed by the state.

Milwaukee’s residential and commercial property grew in value to $30.5 billion in 2020. It’s the first time the city’s equalized value has exceeded the pre-Great Recession high of $28.65 billion recorded in 2008. Property values were up five percent in 2019 to $28.1 billion. The median residential property was assessed at $101,600 last year.

But what the final figures are for 2020 remain to be seen. Property owners have until Monday, May 18th at 4:45 p.m. to file an appeal under a process known as “Open Book.”

“I think we’re probably going to hear from a lot of people,” said Mayor Tom Barrett. Last year approximately two-thirds of residential properties went up in value.

He warned that the data used for the assessment is pre-COVID-19 pandemic. “Those assessments by state law are assessments that are determined January 1st,” he said.

Which areas of the city saw the biggest increase? Residential property values were up more than 25 percent in the sixth aldermanic district. The district, represented by Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs, is in the top three for homes acquired by the city through property tax foreclosure following the Great Recession. It includes the area near Fiserv Forum as well as the Harambee, Bronzeville, Brewers Hill, Halyard Park and Borchert Field neighborhoods.

The fourth aldermanic district, represented by Alderman Robert Bauman, had the lowest residential property value increases at 6.37 percent according to a city news release. The district includes much of Downtown as well as the Historic Third Ward, the Marquette University campus, Concordia and Avenues West neighborhoods stretching west to N. 35th St. Specific data on the absolute value of increases per district were not available at the time of publication. The fourth aldermanic district has had some of the highest property values in the city.