AUBURN – Tax assessors began fanning out across the city this week, hoping to catalogue one quarter of the city’s residential properties.

Assessor Cheryl Dubois said it’s part of the city’s effort to keep up with potentially value-changing work on private homes and properties.

“State law requires us to review every property in the city at least once every four years,” she said. “We’re trying to get a start on that now.”

Most of the work involves cursory exterior inspections, checking to see if owners made substantive changes to a building. That could involve adding or removing a deck or similar work.

“We only need to schedule an interior inspection if we suspect work has been done without a building permit,” she said. Staff will contact property owners if they need to schedule an interior inspection.

She said her staff will be doing the inspections through April. They will be carrying city photo identification and most will be driving city vehicles.

“We just want people to feel safe if they see someone walking around measuring a neighbor’s property,” she said.