The City of Kaukauna has contracted its assessor office services through Bowmar appraisal on a three-year contract. Bowmar is responsible for uniformly and equitably assessing all real estate except those properties designated as manufacturing by the Department of Revenue, public utilities, and property exempt by state statute in the City of Kaukauna.
The Staff at Bowmar are knowledgeable of the market and industry gives this service a seamless look and feel from the city. Any questions can be addressed via phone or email to Bowmar.
Mission Statement
Uniformly and equitably assess all real estate except those properties designated as manufacturing by the Department of Revenue, public utilities, and property exempt by state statute.
Revaluation FAQ
The City of Kaukauna will be doing a Market Update Revaluation of all taxable properties in the city. We are working with our assessors, Bowmar Appraisals, to complete this revaluation. It has been four years since the properties have been assessed and updated to reflect current value. Since this is a market update revaluation, the assessor will not be visiting each individual property as was the process during the last revaluation. Property owners can expect to receive a new notice of assessment in late summer/early fall time frame showing the new value of their property. Along with the letter will be information about the revaluation and contact information for any questions or concerns.
A Market Update Revaluation is a streamlined assessment process that updates property values using existing records and comparable sales data, rather than conducting physical site inspections. This approach is significantly more cost-effective than a full revaluation.
By state statute, the City must ensure that assessed property values remain within ±10% of equalized values. If this ratio falls out of compliance for more than five years, the Department of Revenue mandates a revaluation to restore accuracy and fairness in property assessments.
A revaluation ensures that all properties in the city are assessed on a fair and equitable basis. It redistributes the existing tax levy so that it is fairly distributed among all property owners in the city based on an equitable property value.
A tax levy is the total amount of property tax revenue the city collects to fund its operations and services. This revenue supports essential public services, including public safety, infrastructure, municipal operations. This number is not increased by the results of the property revaluation.
The levy is determined annually based on the budgetary needs of the City, subject to legal limits. It is then distributed among property owners based on assessed property values to ensure a fair allocation of tax responsibility.
A property revaluation is mandated by state law so that assessments of all properties are brought up to, or as near as possible to, 100% of their market value. This ensures that every property pays its fair share of the tax levy. Generally speaking, roughly 75% of properties pay a similar tax bill as they did last year, give or take some as tax bills are never the same each year.
If you disagree with the assessment value or would like to review it with the City Assessor, you will need to call the phone number provided in the Value Notification letter to schedule an appointment. If you and the assessor agree on a correction, adjustments can be made without a formal appeal. If you disagree with the assessor’s response, you can file a formal appeal with the Board of Review.