Auburn to begin home inspections as part of citywide revaluation

Chad Moore of Tyler Technologies measures a Lewiston house in February 2024 as part of a citywide property revaluation. The city eventually scrapped the inspections after a majority of property owners declined them. Auburn officials are hopeful it will have more success as it rolls out a similar effort Feb. 3. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal file

AUBURN — The city is scheduled to begin a series of property inspections next week as part of a citywide revaluation, and officials are hoping the process goes more smoothly than Lewiston’s attempt late last year.

According to a city announcement, the first home inspections by consultant KRT Appraisal will begin Monday. The exterior and interior home inspections are meant to allow accurate assessments for the city’s revaluation, which city staff says is needed to ensure tax fairness across Auburn.

However, as property taxes have continued to rise due to higher municipal budgets and higher home sales prices, residents are skeptical that a full revaluation will result in anything other than more taxes.

In late December, Lewiston’s assessing team announced it had suspended its home inspection effort after a majority of property owners declined inspections. Instead, the city is sending out data mailers that will ask property owners to confirm the information on file is correct.

In Auburn, the assessing staff is hopeful that some transparency and marketing can be enough to make residents more welcoming. Last week, the city posted photos of the two inspectors from KRT Appraisal, along with photos of their vehicles.

The post said the inspectors, Tyler and Cameron, will be “polite, professional, accurate and fair,” and will have city identification and “assessor” safety vests.

Judging from the social media comments following the city’s announcement, Auburn shouldn’t expect a warm welcome from everyone.

On Monday, City Assessor Karen Scammon said that while she knows some property owners are reluctant to “allow unknown people in their homes for the inspection,” staff is hoping that “all the transparency surrounding the process and information we are providing will help ease concerns.”

She said leading up to the start of the revaluation, the department held public meetings in different locations in the city, presented during several City Council meetings, and put an insert in 2024-25 tax bills with info on the coming revaluation.

During council meetings, Scammon and her staff have continuously explained that the city is in need of accurate assessments for all property classes, not just residential. In fact, the red-hot real estate market has led to the city conducting regular valuation adjustments based on sales data, but Scammon has said a full revaluation will be the only way to establish similar data for other property classes, such as commercial and industrial.

“We are aware there were issues in Lewiston when the data collectors began their inspections,” she said. “We hope Auburn residents understand how crucial it is to collect the most accurate information to correctly value properties, ensure equity among properties, and distribute the tax burden evenly among all classes of properties. This is done best through interior/exterior property inspections.”

According to Scammon, the revaluation will include residential and commercial property inspections, and the first round includes roughly 700 residential properties.

During the winter months the inspections will be taking place close to the core of the city, she said, and postcards will be sent to property owners prior to inspectors arriving in the neighborhood. The inspections will be done by data collectors from KRT Appraisal, along with assistance from the Auburn assessing staff.

Each phase, estimated to take about a month to complete, will include roughly 1,000 residential properties.

A section of the city’s website on the revaluation features frequently asked questions, photos of the data collectors, assessing staff and their vehicles, and an interactive map that will show residents where the data collectors are currently working.

The entire revaluation process is scheduled to take three years, with the new values expected to come online as of April 1, 2027.

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