Cascade Township property tax appeals

What the Cascade Township study shows

Every Michigan community publishes the sales it used to set this year’s values. In Cascade Charter Township’s 2026 residential economic condition factor studies, 64 of 238 homes that sold in 2024 and 2025 carry an assessment more than 10 percent above what the buyer paid. That is about 1 in 4. Across all of them, the typical assessment is 50 percent of the sale price, close to the 50 percent the law targets, so most buyers are assessed fairly. The ones who are not can pay hundreds or thousands of dollars a year more than they should.

Cascade’s study shows one of the highest shares of any community we have checked: about 1 in 4 recent buyers assessed more than 10 percent above what they paid.

One Cascade Township sale, from the study

A house of about 2,400 square feet that sold in February 2025 for $560,000. The study lists its assessment at $350,300, which values it at $700,600: 25 percent above the sale.

Half the gap between the assessor’s value and the sale price, at the 31.13-mill homestead rate for Forest Hills Public Schools. A gap is a reason to look, not proof the value is wrong; the house is shown without its address.

How property tax works in Cascade Township

Your bill is figured from your taxable value. While you own a home, it can rise each year by no more than inflation or 5 percent. The year after you buy, that cap comes off and your taxable value resets to the full assessment, so a buyer’s first full bill is set by what the assessor thinks the house is worth. Why taxes jump the year after you buy · Assessed, state equalized and taxable value, explained.

For a primary residence in Forest Hills Public Schools, the 2025 rate is 31.13 mills, or 3.11 percent of taxable value. Homes in the Caledonia and Lowell districts pay about 31.1 and 32.1 mills. At that rate, every $10,000 the assessor overstates your home’s value adds about $156 a year to your bill, and keeps adding it every year you own the home.

The Cascade Township assessor’s office

The Cascade Charter Township assessor, at the Township Offices on Tahoe Drive, sets values and runs the Board of Review.

How to appeal in Cascade Township

Your assessment notice arrives in late February and lists your assessed and taxable values, the Board of Review dates and how to book a time. You can also look up your record on the township’s online property lookup.

• March Board of Review. The only time of year to appeal the value itself. Most boards require an appointment, booked by the deadline printed on your notice.
• Bring evidence. Comparable sales, an appraisal, photographs of anything the township’s record gets wrong. A board will not lower a value on an owner’s opinion alone. That evidence is exactly what our appeal packet puts together: your home rebuilt against the township’s own study, the comparable sales that support a lower value, and the filing instructions for your board, for a flat $350.
• Or have us handle it. With full representation, we file your appeal and present it to the board as your authorized agent, so you never have to appear. It costs a $250 filing fee plus 40% of your first-year tax savings, and the 40% applies only if your value comes down.
• If the board says no, you can appeal to the Michigan Tax Tribunal’s Small Claims Division by July 31. With full representation, we take it there at no extra fee.

Our step-by-step guide to appealing in Michigan walks through each stage.

Elsewhere in West Michigan? Start with our guide for West Michigan buyers.

Source: Cascade Charter Township’s 2026 residential economic condition factor studies. Sales coded as arm’s length, 2024 and 2025. A sale counts when its assessment is more than 55 percent of the price. Tax rates from the Michigan Department of Treasury’s 2025 Total Rates report. How our figures are calculated.