WINDHAM — The Windham Assessor’s Office is launching a property valuation update for the first time since 2011.

The 2011 assessment resulted in property values being reduced, but “those reductions no longer reflect today’s market,” the town said in a press release.

The valuation will begin this fall with field reviews of residential properties, and commercial property reviews are planned to start in January 2018. Property owners will receive a valuation notice after an analysis of their property is completed, and will have an opportunity to appeal if they don’t believe the valuation is unfair.

Town Assessor Elisa Trepanier said in an interview that she expects the assessment notices to be sent out in June of 2018, and that property owners will have about a week to ask for a hearing with assessor’s office staff if they have questions or concerns about the valuation process.

The goal of any hearing would be to answer questions and try to resolve any issues before taxes are set by the town, she said. But if a property owner still has concerns, they can then appeal the assessment.

“A property owner has the right to legally appeal their tax assessment if they feel that it is unfair or unjust,” the town said in a press release.

The release also says that the updated valuation will be reflected in the 2018-19 tax bill.

The field reviews for the valuation update will be conducted by the town’s appraisal team of Joan Hodgdon and Taylor Burns. Trepanier said that the appraisers will be wearing photo IDs and traveling in cars clearly identified as town assessing vehicles. She also said that the town has hired an outside contractor, Property Valuation Advisors, run by Stephen Traub and based in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Town Manager Tony Plante said in an email that he expect the valuation update to reflect a couple of trends in the town: continued growth and improvement in the local real estate market.

Plante also emphasized that the valuation process impacts how the town tax burden is divived up among residents, not the overall amount of money raised by the town.

“The amount of money the town raises annually is a function of the budget process – the town’s budget, the school district’s budget, and the county budget. Even if values go up, the amount of money the town raises in any given year is fixed by the budget approved by the voters (for the town and school district) and the county commissioners (for the county),” he said.

According to the town assessor’s office, Windham has 8,570 real estate accounts and 1,148 personal property accounts, which combine for a total value of $1,831,616,800.

The council committed taxes for 2017-18 at a rate of $16.43 per $1,000 dollar assessment, meaning that the owner of a $200,000 house would pay over $3,200 in taxes.

Matt Junker can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 123 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @MattJunker.

Windham appraisal team Joan Hodgdon and Taylor burns will be conducting field reviews this fall as part of a updates property valuation in town.