Editorial Policy

1. Our Editorial Mission

U.S. property tax administration is delivered by 3,000+ counties (and many thousands more towns and townships in New England), each with its own portal, exemption forms, appeal procedure, and quirks. Florida calls them property appraisers; California, county assessors; Texas, appraisal districts; New England, town assessors; Maryland, the SDAT. The information is public — every office publishes it — but the terminology, deadlines, and procedures vary so much that consolidating it is its own job.

Our editorial mission is to consolidate that into one consistent format, in plain English, kept up to date, and always linked back to the county or state’s own publication so readers can verify and act.

2. Quality Standards Every County Page Meets

• The county or jurisdiction name matches the official name used by the state (avoiding common errors like “Miami County” for Miami-Dade or “Las Vegas County” — Las Vegas is in Clark County, Nevada)
• The official property search portal URL is verified live and points to the actual parcel-search tool
• Search options listed (parcel ID, owner, address, sales) match what the portal actually offers
• Exemption forms and current limits match the county’s published exemption page on the date of the last review
• Appeal deadline is correct and sourced from the county or state — these are short and unforgiving
• Notice / TRIM mailing date matches the county’s published schedule
• “Last reviewed” date appears on every page
• GIS / parcel viewer link is included where the county publishes one

3. Source Hierarchy

Full hierarchy with named sources, URLs, and how each is used is on the Sources & Methodology page.

4. Verification — Our Seven-Step Process

1. Identify the right county office. We use the official property appraiser/assessor/CAD homepage as the entry point — not a generic county site or third-party data aggregator.
2. Confirm the office name. We cross-check that we’re using the exact terminology the office uses (e.g., “Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser,” “Los Angeles County Assessor”).
3. Read the source pages in full. Quick scans miss exceptions — we read the actual exemption pages, the actual appeal pages, and any “important date” or “this year’s deadline” notices.
4. Test the portal live. We run sample parcel searches by ID, owner, and address to confirm the portal still works and the search options are accurate.
5. Cross-check exemption amounts and deadlines against the state Department of Revenue or state property-tax statute where the rule is set at state level (Florida $50,000 homestead, California’s $7,000 homeowners’ exemption, etc.).
6. Verify external links. Every link to a county portal, state DOR, or statute is clicked and confirmed.
7. Editor sign-off. A second editor reviews the page before it goes live.

5. Update Cycles — Aligned to the Property-Tax Calendar

U.S. property tax administration runs on a strongly seasonal calendar (January 1 assessment date in many states; spring/summer notices; fall/early-winter tax bills), and our review cycles are aligned to that.

6. Corrections Process

1. You report it. Email info@property-appraisers.org with subject “Correction” and the page URL.
2. We acknowledge. Within seven business days we confirm receipt.
3. We verify. An editor goes back to the county or state’s official page and confirms the current position.
4. We correct. If confirmed, the page is updated. Substantive corrections — wrong appeal deadline, wrong exemption amount, wrong portal URL — trigger a published correction note dated and described in plain English.
5. We tell you. The reporter is notified once the correction is live.

7. AI Tools and Authorship

• AI tools may be used for first drafts, summarization of county pages, formatting consistency, and language polish
• Every county page is reviewed line by line by a human editor before publication
• Portal URLs, appeal deadlines, exemption amounts, and contact details are confirmed against the county’s own page by a human — never trusted to an AI summary alone
• AI-generated text that turns out to misstate a county procedure is corrected through the standard corrections process
• We do not allow AI to invent county-specific procedures, fabricate links, or describe deadlines that aren’t in the source

8. Editorial Independence

We do not take payment from any county or state agency in exchange for editorial coverage. We do not take payment from property tax consultants, appeal-filing services, exemption-claim services, or licensed real estate appraisal firms in exchange for being mentioned, recommended, or omitted on county pages. The site is funded by display advertising on the principle that advertising and editorial are separate functions.

9. Advertising and Disclosure

• Display advertisements are visually distinct from editorial content and labeled where required
• Affiliate links — where we earn a commission for a referral — are disclosed in context per FTC endorsement guidance
• Sponsored content, if it ever appears, is clearly identified as paid-for
• We do not insert affiliate links into the editorial portion of county pages; the county/state link always comes first

FTC endorsement guidance: ftc.gov.

10. Conflicts of Interest

• The editorial team is not employed by, contracted to, or financially connected to any U.S. county property appraiser, county assessor, appraisal district, state Department of Revenue, or licensed real estate appraisal firm
• The editorial team is not employed by, contracted to, or financially connected to any property tax consultant or appeal-filing service
• We don’t accept gifts, hospitality, or considerations from these organizations in exchange for coverage

11. Sensitive Topics

Property records intersect with several sensitive topics — domestic-violence-survivor address confidentiality, public-figure security concerns, contested ownership in family-law matters, and cross-county tax-rate comparisons that can imply political judgments. We try to handle these fairly:

• Where states or counties operate confidentiality programs for protected classes (judges, law-enforcement, victims of harassment), we describe them factually and link the application route — without commenting on individual cases
• We don’t moralize about high-tax vs low-tax states; we describe published rates and exemptions without editorializing
• We treat appeal procedures plainly without implying that appealing is “fighting the system” — it’s a built-in statutory right in every state

12. Reader Feedback

Substantive feedback — corrections, suggestions, broken-link reports — is logged and addressed within seven business days. Property tax professionals, real estate agents, and homeowners who use these portals daily often spot inconsistencies before our quarterly review catches them. Feedback that is abusive, threatening, or harassing is not engaged with and may be reported under our Terms of Service.

13. Language, Tone, and Accessibility

• County pages are written in plain English at a level intended to be accessible to a general adult homeowner audience
• We spell out acronyms (CAD, APN, TRIM, USPAP, IAAO, SDAT, BOE) on first use in any page
• Where Spanish is the dominant language for a substantial portion of a county’s residents (Miami-Dade, Los Angeles, Bexar, Hidalgo, etc.), we link the county’s Spanish-language pages where they exist
• We follow our Accessibility Statement, including WCAG 2.1 AA targets