The mayor will soon be announcing that home values have increased.  And he'll brag about his HOMES program sales (which of course are no where near the "almost 100%" that the mayor claimed and we know from the actual sales prices that the prices of those homes generally are way below the assessed value.

Be advised that when you hear this, you will know it is a lie.

The equalization rate was 123% which means that properties are generally assessed 23% too high, i.e., 23% higher than their market value.

The expected equalization rate this year seems like it might be 121%.  So it might seem that with the rate going down that market values will be going up and that is the lie the mayor will tell you.

This is how he could portray it.

A house is assessed for $123,000 which under a 123% equalization rate means the house has a market value of $100,000.

A house is assessed for $123,000 which under a 121% equalization rate might seem like the house now has a market value of $101,653   (because a market value of $101,653 times the 121% equalization rate equals the assessed value of $123,000

Be sure not to fall for the mayors big lie when he says property values in the city are increasing.

Enough people have grieved their assessments which has brought down the overall assessed value, closer to the low market value.  But since not all property owners have grieved, it causes an equalization rate to go down.  

The FACT is, the TRUTH is, the REALITY is and the EVIDENCE proves that property values based on actual sales prices continues to fall.

Its hard to come up with actual market values in this city, as shown on some of these posts some houses won't sell for even close to half the assessed value after multiple price drops.