Property reassessments aren’t popular. They aren’t a way that anyone wants to spend money. Reassessing property values is labor intensive and the process is upsetting to between a third to a half of a county’s population.

Property reassessment is also, unfortunately, a necessary evil.

It’s time for Warren County to bite the proverbial bullet and undertake the first county property reassessment since 1989.

In Warren County, there is a belief that tax appeals are benefitting people who are already paying less than their fair share of property taxes, which means everyone else has to pay more.

The process is expected to cost more than $1 million.

Generally speaking, a reassessment doesn’t change a governing entity’s tax levy. Some reassessed properties will increase in value, some will decrease and some will remain unchanged. That means the tax rate may change to produce the same amount needed to raise the same amount in taxes.

There will be many who fight the reassessment. Logically, however, reassessing makes sense. Warren County residents are paying property taxes based on values set in 1989.

Everything was less expensive in 1989 — milk, eggs, cars, movie tickets and, yes, houses. The taxes paid on many houses in Warren County likely have little connection to the property’s real value — and that means someone is getting a raw deal on their property taxes.

Government loves to take your money. Shouldn’t they be taking what people actually owe?

It’s time to reassess properties in our county, and that process should begin sooner rather than later.