Roll It

12 Jan Roll It

The list that I require each student to obtain sometimes can be extracted from the tax roll alone. The tax roll lists all properties that have unpaid real property taxes or tax delinquencies. It is just a basic list of delinquent properties, but also some details of the property (e.g. location, size) and property owners (e.g. owner’s name). The county provides it.

Without the tax roll, you can still draft your list by looking in the treasurer’s roll. The treasurer’s roll has a tax base, telling you how much real property tax is paid annually. Knowing the tax payment can somehow point you to delinquent properties. Those without real property tax payments automatically make it to your big list. Details of the treasurer’s roll can also help you in filtering your list. Treasurer’s roll contains the same information with the assessment roll because these 2 offices share documents for land valuation, planning and development.

Assessment roll is a technical document of the assessor’s office. It contains use code or land uses. It is basically the zoning document or land use plan, where it maps out the commercial, residential, industrial, agricultural lands. Some assessment rolls are more detailed and could inform where the flood prone areas are, lands with good soil for farming, hilly properties, highly eroded properties, tornado and earthquake lines are. It can also inform you where the forest and wildlife reserves are. These details from the assessment rolls can initially identify the brownfields or areas with critical environmental concerns.

The assessment roll does not however inform you of real properties with delinquent taxes. Even then, the assessment rolls can still help you filter your list. The parameters provided by the use key are valuable in identifying properties in terms of land value, location, etc. It points you to the properties that are potential for buying even they are not tax delinquent.