While I agree that if an appraisal sees a significant jump you should review it and possibly challenge it, it may have nothing to do with YOUR property.
The first part of the appraisal is an evaluation of the property. Square footage, number of bedrooms, amount of waterfront (if any), and special features that matter to the appraisal (I am always amused at what does and doesn't count). This should be a pretty cut and dried process. You either have 3 bedrooms or 4. You have 100 ft. or no waterfront. You have hardwood floors (if that counts) or vinyl. It's an accurate physical description of your house. Frankly, my opinion is, refusing to let the appraiser into your house is raising the likelihood that the appraisal will not be accurate. Also, trying to hide the hardwood floors you put in 2 years ago is cheating, IMO. I know some people just don't want the government in their homes. OK, I get it. The appraisers have the right to walk around your property (as far as I know) and it's their job. Are they "peeking in windows" or just trying to accurately ascertain the condition of the exterior? Who knows? They are human beings and some of us are more nosey than we ought to be.
I challenged an appraisal and won because they had described two porch areas as heated living space. They got the physical description wrong.
But the other aspect of the appraisal has more to do with your neighbors than you. You know how communities brag how they won "Best place to live ..." awards? Well, guess what, when others read that, THEY want to live here too. If your school won an award for education, the town becomes a magnet for families with kids. Maybe you live in a low tax RATE town which is also appealing. The people attracted to YOUR community bid up the prices on homes because they find them desirable. The appraisal company looks at recent sales in YOUR area with similar features and values your house accordingly. So when your neighbor brags he just make a fortune on the sale of HIS house, YOUR appraised value and your proportion of the property tax just increased. You got no more services provided and YOU did nothing to increase your property value. That's just the way it works. It's also just about impossible to challenge what the sales prices of comparable houses in your area were.
Say you work in a state with income taxes. After proving your worth to your employer, they give you a nice raise. However it bumps up your tax bracket. You pay MORE tax (proportionately) on the new earnings than you did on the old earnings. Not fair? That's the way the system is.
Of course, the best way to keep taxes down for everyone is to control spending. Good luck with that. There are a lot of people, usually residents and voters, constantly clamoring for services. There are fewer high value property owners and most (?) of them are not voting residents. Where do you think the pressure pushes the town officials?
I solved my tax problem. I sold my high valued, high taxed property and moved into a "lower valued" property. Now I have 3 times the housing space and 5 times the land. I pay half the taxes and my appraisal even went down a bit this year.
So for all you highly valued property owners paying "more" than your share of taxes, THANKS for your contribution!
I was one of you. Now I'm happy to say I'm not.