About Me:
My name is Debbie Walters and I am your elected St. John Township Assessor. I am a fiscally conservative Republican and as such, I believe that the government should be held accountable to operate as effectively and cost-efficiently as possible. This directly correlates to how I run the St. John Township Assessor's office. I believe in doing the job as accurately and efficiently as possible. In fact, I hold a higher level of Assessor/Appraiser certification than is required for this job. This is fostered by my belief that the more we know, the easier it is for all of us to keep assessments fair and accurate.
Our Mission:
The Assessor's office is important to all of us as taxpayers. As we all know, the Assessor’s office is tasked with determining the property values and taxes for our homes and local businesses based on fair market value. These taxes, in turn, provide us the benefits of living in as safe an area as possible. These taxes are also responsible for paying for our police, firefighters, our schools, infrastructure, parks, and so on.
Of course we only want to have to pay our fair share. Therefore, it is important to all of us that we have an assessor and staff who are well versed in what constitutes a fair and accurate assessment of our property, both real and business/personal.
Real property is our homes, our land and any other improvements that is built on it. It is also the building a business is in. Personal property is movable property that is not usually associated with the land or building. In general terms, personal property is any equipment or furniture or other property that is used in the course of doing business.
With recent tax caps passed, the budget for our County government is limited in part by the total value of real and personal property in the county. The tax rate is the percentage of total property value to be collected in a given year.
Since the tax rate is a percentage of the value of our property, this makes having the value of any given property correct crucial. With each lower than proper assessment, the cost of government passes disproportionately to one’s neighbors. Alternatively, with any higher than proper assessment one would also pay a disproportionate amount over their neighbors.
The State mandated reassessment is moving along, as we continue doing it in house rather than though overpriced and wasteful contractors. This is being accomplished by hiring a combination of local college students eager to learn and help their community and other local individuals who have lived in the area for years and who understand the dynamic community that we all live in and enjoy.
Of course we only want to have to pay our fair share. Therefore, it is important to all of us that we have an assessor and staff who are well versed in what constitutes a fair and accurate assessment of our property, both real and business/personal.
Real property is our homes, our land and any other improvements that is built on it. It is also the building a business is in. Personal property is movable property that is not usually associated with the land or building. In general terms, personal property is any equipment or furniture or other property that is used in the course of doing business.
With recent tax caps passed, the budget for our County government is limited in part by the total value of real and personal property in the county. The tax rate is the percentage of total property value to be collected in a given year.
Since the tax rate is a percentage of the value of our property, this makes having the value of any given property correct crucial. With each lower than proper assessment, the cost of government passes disproportionately to one’s neighbors. Alternatively, with any higher than proper assessment one would also pay a disproportionate amount over their neighbors.
The State mandated reassessment is moving along, as we continue doing it in house rather than though overpriced and wasteful contractors. This is being accomplished by hiring a combination of local college students eager to learn and help their community and other local individuals who have lived in the area for years and who understand the dynamic community that we all live in and enjoy.