Why isn’t my name shown as the record owner on my tax bill?

Answer

The “Record Owner” field of the real estate tax bill must indicate the ownership as of January 1st. Although tax bills are issued quarterly, the ownership records may only be changed once a year. All deed transactions occurring within the calendar year are reflected in the subsequent July 1st tax bill. For example, all deed transactions recorded or registered between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005 will be reflected in the July 1, 2006 tax bill. A property owner who purchases a property on January 2, 2005 has much longer to wait for the ownership records to roll over compared to the purchaser who closes on December 31, 2005. For both transactions the files roll over on July 1, 2006. In the interim, new owner names can be reflected in the mailing address field of your tax bill if you notify the Assessors Office of an ownership change.