Special Assessments

Special assessments are a charge to real estate property for needed public projects and are charged only to the properties that receive a direct benefit from the project.

Special assessments may include, but are not limited to, items such as ditch assessments for construction and maintenance.  In Wyandot County, the Engineer oversees 140 individual projects on maintenance encompassing 260 miles of open ditches and 15 miles of tile projects.

Other examples of special assessments may include:

Improvements ~ street paving, curb repair/replacement, lighting districts, sidewalks and sewer or water lines
Code Enforcement ~ weed and debris removal and delinquent water/sewer bills.

The Auditor is required by law to keep an accounting of special assessments and to place them on the tax duplicate as a separate item on the real estate tax bill.  However, special assessments are not part of the taxpayer’s real estate tax.  A special assessment is a charge from a government entity for a public project.  The Auditor returns the money collected to the government entity (city, village, township or county office) which certified the special assessment.

Each special assessment can be identified by a SPA Code which is essentially for reference and distribution purposes.  Special Assessments can be continuous, which means that assessments such as some lighting districts and ditch petitions do not have a finite completion date to the project.  Other assessments will have a predetermined beginning and end date.

SPA Listing