Owners have started receiving their property tax assessment reports for the newly released Lake View Township triennial reassessment. If you’re angry, you’re not alone.

The Lake View Township property tax valuations, which includes PTCA unit owners, were released this week. We reported in a previous posting it was expected we could see valuation changes with significant increases. Media reports suggested 15 to 25% increases were likely.

On Wednesday and Thursday we received calls, e-mails and angry messages from many Unit Owners who received letters from the county. We’ve heard of valuation increases ranging from 20 to 40%. While that does not necessarily mean your tax bill will go up that much, it definitely signals a hefty increase is on approach for unit owner property taxes in 2019 and beyond.

In November 2017, the PTCA Board of Directors approved a renewing the contract with the Association’s tax attorney, Terrence Kennedy. Since that time, we have stayed in contact with them and they have been gearing up to file a protest. Up to now, they’ve been waiting for this last piece of information – the actual triennial valuations themselves – to be released.

WE HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT with the Law Offices of Terrence Kennedy. Now that the valuations have been released, they are reviewing and inputting the necessary data, and they will be filing the protest for all Unit Owners, with the exception of Commercial Unit Owners in the mall who’ve hired their own attorney. We were told in a conversation on Thursday May 10th, the protest will be filed by the deadline for the Lake View Township, which is June 7th.

We obviously can not make any promises. The property tax appeal process can be unpredictable. But, from our own day to day work and observations, Management is willing to say we see very little evidence to support increases of 20 to 40%. While property values have been going up on average, we see no evidence that 20-40% is a reasonable range.

Also, the Association’s tax attorney has a track record of winning every single time an appeal has been filed. So, we urge all owners to have patience, and let them do their work. The contract is for fees on a contingency basis, so the attorney will only make money if they reduce PTCA owners’ tax bills! But the process will take time, and it is unlikely we will know the final outcome for several months.

As this process unfolds, and more information becomes available, we will follow up in future postings.

If you have any questions, please e-mail us.