Item by Item Explanation of Numbered Arrows. The First 6 Items also Appear on Back Side of Appraisal/Assessment Notice.

Date notice is printed for mailing.


The tax district wherein the property is located.


The owner's name as of December 31 as required by law. The mailing
address is taken from the owner's deed, or from the latest information provided by the owner.


The actual Assessor's appraised value (market value or Agricultural Use Value if applicable) as of December 31, for each of the four classes of property described on the notice. This value includes the land and any structure including pools, sheds, tennis courts, etc. An explanation of the four classes is provided in Item 9 below.


The assessment ratio as prescribed by law for each of the four classes of property.


The assessment is the value obtained by multiplying the appraised value (Item 4) by the appropriate assessment ratio (Item 5). This assessment will be used by taxing authorities when levying taxes. The "total assessment" is the "taxable assessment" and is a combination of classification lines 1, 2, & 4. The "total assessment" is then multiplied by the "millage rate" to produce the "tax amount." Example of computing assessment and taxes:

*There are currently nineteen (19) tax districts in Richland County. The tax dis strict is shown on the notice in the Tax District Box (Item 2). The County Auditor's Office can provide you with the current millage rate for the district.

IMPORTANT:  The millage rate usually changes from year to year; if the rate for this year has not been set, any taxes that are computed should be considered only an estimate.

This block provides general information about the property such as the street address, road number, or box number where the property is located and the plat block and lot number, or tract number, the boundary measurements, and/or the number of acreage, and the deed book and page number.


This block provides a brief explanation as to why your property was appraised and the reason you were mailed the notice.

Each and every lot or tract of real property appraised by the Richland County Assessor's Office is assigned one or more of these 4 classification codes. The definition of each assigned class is:

• Class Owner Occupied Residential Property
  Assessment Ratio- .04
  Meaning: That portion of real estate used as the owner's legal residence to include up to 5 acres of land. An initial application to receive this rate must be made by the property owner.
  
  
• Class - Other Property
  Assessment - .06
  Meaning: All other real property appraised by the Richland County Assessor's Office not classified at either the owner occupied residential class or the "use value-agricultural" class. This includes idle or vacant land, residential property either non-owner occupied or rental, and all commercial property appraised by the Richland County Assessor's Office.
  
  
• Class - Market Value - Agricultural Property
  Assessment -.06
  Meaning: The market value of land being used for agricultural purposes. Taxes on this value are not paid until the use of the property changes from an agricultural use. The assessed value from this class, less the assessed value from the "use value agricultural" class below, generates the rollback assessment. This rollback assessment will have millage applied against it to produce the rollback taxes for the year the use changes and up to 5 previous years the property received the use value. See the section on rollback taxes on Page 3 for a further explanation of rollback taxes.
  
  
• Class - Use Value - Agricultural Property
  Assessment -.04/.06
  Meaning: The agricultural value of land being used for agricultural purposes. The land in this class is the same property as in the "market value-agricultural" class above. An initial application to receive this use value classification must be made by the property owner. As long as the property continues to be used for agricultural purposes, taxes will be based on this value. The 4% ratio applies to privately owned property and the 6% ratio applies to corporate owned property not qualifying for the 4% ratio.
  
  

The amount of acreage attributed to each class of property. The combined acreage of Classification Lines 1, 2, 3 should equal the total acreage for the entire tract valued on this notice.

The tax map number is the assessor's map numbering system, but is not to be confused with the owner's plat block and lot number.


This value is the total appraised "market value''of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd classification lines (items 4 & 9). This block also represents the total "taxable value" of the property unless the property is receiving agricultural use value on at least a portion of the tract. In the case of agricultural property,the total taxable values a combination of the 1st, 2nd, and 4th classification lines and would differ from the total "market value" shown in this block.