AUBURN – The city should never have to go through a revaluation again, thanks to a newly installed software package.

That means assessed values will change every year, either up or down, based on market value. Taxes will be determined by the city’s budget.

The software, called Patriot Assessing Systems, is one of the changes the city included in the new property revaluation, said Assessor Cheryl Dubois.

It keeps track of citywide property values each year, matching land values to market rates and building values to construction costs.

“One of the biggest complaints we’ve heard with this revaluation is that we waited too long to do it,” Dubois said. This is the first time Auburn has updated its values since 1989. The city began the process in 2002.

According to state law, assessed property values must be close to market values – the price a given property would sell for on the open market. By law, assessed values can’t be 30 percent under market values or 10 percent over them.

The new system should keep the city at 100 percent of assessed value every year, Dubois said.

“By keeping track of it year to year, we shouldn’t see a bump like we did this year,” Dubois said. “Our values should track with the market, going up or down when the market does.”

Citywide assessed values are expected to increase from about $1 billion to $1.8 billion, based on the new numbers.

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