Home Property

Property tax appraisals on a new home?

Hello,

We bought a new house last February 2008. The house was a brand new (finished on End of 2007). I realized that my property taxes are higher than expected. I contacted the city and realized that their appraisal value is higher than the actual house value by 20-25%.
The city advised that the taxes are based on 2005 assessment (values were much higher at that time), and they typically re-assess the houses every 5 years. They added that I have the right to appeal (next appeal date will start March 2010). I expect their conclusion will be similar to the above "regarding re-assessment frequency", as I sensed from them.

My point is even I understand the 5-year re-assessment concept and they don’t re-assess the houses every year, I accept this explanation for a house that is there for long. The market is subjected to fluctuations which may not be realistic to re-assess on year to year basis. However, in my case my assessment date (based on 2005) was "prior" to the building date of the house (end of 2007). The house itself wasn’t there and therefore, it shouldn’t be subjected to 2005 assessment but 2008 instead (as a special case), then I can catch up with the city’s next reassessment frequencies.

According to my concept, I’ve paid 25% more taxes than what I should have been paying for two years.

Do I have a solid ground to dispute this based on the above?
If yes, where should I go? (City, Supreme court, etc)
What are my chances?

Thanks

not a leg to stand on. the amount you would spend in legal bills would deplete in an hour the amount you would ever get back from the county, you would probably get non back at all. the only people that win this (i went thru this on a vacation home of mine) I one because they reassessed my lake property this year and the bill came in double the year before while property value lost 250,000$. i won because the county had to fight me and about 30 of my neighbors who got an attorney and their appraisal was outrageous. you would not win because yours is technically still new construction. when these houses are built they have a formula they use given the plans for the neighborhood or the plans for the home. good luck but it really isnt worth the fight you will pay more to fight than you will to get back.