Reassessment notices mailed this week have some St. Joseph County homeowners reeling and appealing.

“A $33,000 increase in my home as a retired person on a fixed income, I can work with 2 percent, 3 percent, 4 percent, but I cannot work with 20 rotten percent,” said Dan, who did not want to reveal his last name. “Two years ago, the increase was like 2.19 percent or something, last year it was 3.97 percent, this year it was an unbelievably unrealistic 20 percent.”

While there wasn’t a long line at the St. Joseph County Assessor’s office Friday, there was a steady trickle of unhappy homeowners filing appeals.

“Well, my assessment went up, like, $30,000 dollars, in my neighborhood, at least in my house, and I've never done any improvements, except put some windows in a little bit,” Tom Balasa said. “So I wanted to find out why it went up that much.”

Those who asked were told the assessments are based, in part, on actual home sales and the prices buyers were willing to pay on the open market.

Assessments increased on about 80 percent of the 120,000 parcels in St. Joseph County.

“It's not a surprise with the economy rebounding. It's not a surprise with, you know, people doing better. During this time period housing prices have increased, there's more demand for the housing prices,” said St. Joseph County Deputy Attorney Frank Agostino.

Up to this point, the reassessment is the result of a mass statistical appraisal. The appeals process gives a homeowner a chance to get specific.

“Some people have brought in just pictures and said, you know, 'I don’t have the money for an appraisal; I'm not gonna spend $300 on an appraisal, but you can see that I have rotting shutters or rotting window,'” Agostino said. “That evidence could be an appraisal. That evidence could be a realtor’s market analysis. You can do your own study of comparable sales if you want.”

Wendy Kuhl filed an appeal of the notice she received this week—knowing full well that the process takes patience. She is still awaiting action on the appeal she filed over the notice she received last year. “It’s pretty frustrating, because they give us 30 to 45 days to appeal our taxes, but then they're taking over a year to get back with us. I still haven't had my hearing, and it’s been a year.”

NewsCenter 16 talked off camera to one woman who owns a home in Walkerton and saw its assessed value increase by 40 percent, from $89,000 to $125,000.

Property owners have until Aug. 31 to file an appeal.