Assessor Job Description and Salary Information

Assessor Job Description – Would you like to work as an Assessor? This article will provide you with the job description, duties and responsibilities, and salary information of an Assessor.

Job Description of an Assessor

An assessor is a local government official who determines the value of a property for local real estate taxation purposes. Since they usually work in local government units that are in charge of cities, municipalities, or counties, the main purpose of a valuation is to derive the property tax rate, which is based on market value.

Ultimately, it’s up to assessors to evaluate all of the properties within their unit’s control, often through computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) for efficiency, and to log and maintain assessment rolls kept as public records.

The most common work setup is full-time with regular business hours, though this job entails traveling, as assessors split their time between the office and site visits.

Duties and Responsibilities

The following are the core responsibilities of an Assessor:

• Gather Assessment Data: Assessors begin the valuation process by gathering extensive data about the property. The most basic step is a physical inspection, where they perform a walk-through of the property, taking photographs for documentation. Apart from this, they conduct interviews, consult building plans and other construction papers, and search for deficiencies through testing.
• Determine Property Value: Evaluating the value of a property requires more than a thorough examination of its physical condition. Assessors must set their findings against the current economic context, factoring in sales trends, how properties in the vicinity compare, and depreciation over time. Upon deciding on market value, they can then deduce the property tax rate.
• Provide Information: Because the exact property tax rate depends on the assessor’s judgment, assessors must be prepared to explain their valuations to property owners, presenting evidence and going over each step clearly if requested. In general, it’s their job to answer questions from the public about property tax and to defend their reasoning during hearings with protesting taxpayers.
• Prepare Documentation: A major responsibility of assessors is preparing and maintaining the yearly assessment roll, which contains the valuations of all properties in a city or municipality. On a smaller scale, for every assessment that they conduct, they write reports describing the condition of the property, complete with technical details and estimated costs of maintenance.
• Review Property Changes: Whenever a building or property undergoes drastic changes such as renovation, improvement, or deterioration, assessors evaluate it again, updating the relevant records. Property transfers are another opportunity for assessors to check previous assessments, as they must verify buyer and seller information.

Skills and Qualifications

• An Assessor must possess a bachelor’s degree in engineering, math, finance, economics, or a related field that tackles the technical concepts involved in property valuation.
• Assessors must be knowledgeable about various appraisal procedures, from analyzing costs based on building materials to using certain software packages.
• Assessors must be skilled at making accurate mathematical calculations, especially for plotting and gauging irregularly shaped land areas.
• Assessors must organize into clear reports, noting down systematically in assessment rolls.
• An Assessor must be able to synthesize all of the gathered data about a property into a single valuation.
• Assessors must be transparent while patiently addressing customer concerns; they must also be polite and mindful of privacy when entering others’ properties.

Assessor Job Salary Structure

The salary range is presented below in a tabular form in different currencies:

Dollar ($)	Naira (₦)	Pound (£)	Euro (€)
$29,000 – $101,000	₦8,887,340 – ₦30,952,430	£22,847 – £79,570	€25,818 – €89,920