MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Two House Bills were put in front of the House Tax Policy Committee to decide whether or not assessors should be able to gain access to property.

The duty of assessors is to estimate properties of land on an annual basis in order to ensure accuracy. Bills 5172 and 5173 prohibit assessors from entering properties without written permission. Assessors would be required to submit a written request to the owners of any property they want to access.

In doing so, property owners will not be required to allow access and will not be penalized for denying entry. Therefore, if denied access, assessors will not be able to step on any property in order to complete their day-to-day tasks.

The concern with these two bills is that assessors will then be forced to rely on surrounding properties in order to make estimates. This could lead to inaccurate values of property because assessors would have to make assumptions that the land they are estimating has a kitchen, bathroom, basement, etc.

Inequity in assessments could lead to an increase in property taxes due to the fact that surrounding properties will be based on each other. There is much confusion as to why assessors are required to assess land on an annual basis. Inspection and re-inspection of property is not to done increase taxes, but rather to ensure accuracy.

If these two bills get passed and assessors are forced to rely on surrounding properties to make their estimates, they will be reasonable. Property owners will not be treated unfairly and this will not affect them. This will however, majorly affect property values as a whole.

Real estate firms rely heavily on estimates made by assessors in order to correctly identity the amount of property for any real estate that may be up on the market. If they are unable to look at original numbers of properties, this could affect the way land is valued at. Whether or not these bills will be passed is still under review.