Starting June 11, 2012, East Lansing city staff will conduct re-inspections at a number of properties in the city. They say it's simply a routine effort to keep city records up-to-date.
"It's necessary to meet the requirements of law regarding assessing properties and what we do is try to get a percentage of the community each year," said Tim Dempsey, director of planning for the City of East Lansing.
Assessing staff will ask to walk through about 20% of the properties in the city, collecting information such as the square footage, number of bedrooms and other improvements around the home.
"It's strictly making sure that the information the assessor uses to determine the assessed value is accurate," Dempsey said.
The assessed value of the home will then determine how much the homeowner pays the city in property taxes and according to the city, doing a fair assessment is a top priority.
"Should they decide to sell their home in the future, a lot of realtors use that public information to put their marketing data together. People who are researching homes on their own look up city records," said Dempsey.
Most homeowners could expect to get a re-assessment about every five years. If you're one of them this year, there's a couple of things you can do to make sure the person at your door is a legitimate city staff.
"They [homeowners] would have received an official letter from the city on our letterhead signed by our assessing department," Dempsey said.
The staff will also have a city-issued I.D. badge worn so that it will be visible.
If you have any concerns about the process, you can call the City Assessor's Office at (517) 319-6880.
