LYNN – Proposed fiscal year 2008 property values are now available for the first time online for the general public to view, according to Director of Assessing Peter M. Caron.Following preliminary approval by the Department of Revenue (DOR), the rates can be viewed until Dec. 7 during a public disclosure period.”Property values generally remained stable or declined from the previous year, depending on the type of property,” Caron said. “One, two and three family homes, including condominiums, declined in value between 0 percent and 2 percent from the prior year.”Value reductions were reportedly more prominent for multi-family properties, with a drop of 5 to 7 percent.Caron said taxpayers can access the values several ways: by viewing listings by street address at either the Assessing Department in City Hall, at the library on North Common Street, or online at www.ci.lynn.ma.us/PublicDocuments/LynnMA_assesor/assessor and clicking on the Patriot Properties link at the bottom of the page.”Property values for residential property remained stable or declined from the previous year, depending on the type of property,” Caron said.A public hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 11 at City Hall to discuss how to allocate taxes to commercial and residential properties.Currently, the city is in a re-certification year, which means the state is auditing the process and re-evaluating property values for 2008.Caron said the proposed property values remain subject to change pending additional information resulting from the public disclosure period.Taxpayers may request a hearing with an assessor if they have questions regarding their rate, however, all changes must be completed by Dec. 7.If assessors do not have enough time to review submitted documents, the taxpayer may be advised to file a formal appeal, which must be made when tax bills are issued and approved no later than Feb. 1, 2008.Caron said additional information on the appeal process would be made available once tax bills are mailed.”Generally there aren’t a lot of appeals, but the appeal period is mainly for people to pick up on errors,” Caron said. “Sometimes someone will come in and say that they were assessed with a finished basement and they don’t have one, or that they were charged 20 percent more than a next door neighbor.”Caron said that taxpayers should note that the proposed values represent fair market value as of fiscal year 2007.”The assessors are well aware of the dramatic changes that have been occurring in the real estate market during the last six months of 2007,” he said. “However, state law requires us to base the assessments on the real estate market as it existed in late 2006.”Due to the real estate market flux, Caron said taxpayers should not compare their property value to recent property sales to determine the accuracy of their assessment. “We didn’t have a lot of sales this year and they were down from prior years, so I clumped some of the neighborhoods together for the values,” he said.Commercial property values continued a steady rate of increase according to Caron, who said they increased by 9 percent over the prior year. Industrial properties saw a more modest increase of 3 percent over the prior year.Caron can be reached at 781-586-6707.