By PETER HUSSMANN
Residential property owners in Jasper County had the assessed values of their properties increased by 6 percent following tenative action taken by the Iowa Department of Revenue on Friday, however local officals plan an appeal.
Assessors across the state were notified of the assessment adjustments being made to residential, commercial and agricultural property values by Department of Revenue Director Mark Schuling.
In addition to the hike on residential properties in Jasper County, commercial properties received a 5 percent equalization order while agricultural property received a 48 percent increase.
Every two years the Iowa Department of Revenue is required to equalize property tax assessments in all 107 assessing jurisdictions across the state. Equalization is accomplished, Schuling explained, by "increasing or decreasing when necessary the aggregate valuations of certain classes of property within each assessing jurisdiction."
"This is to ensure that all classes of property have been assessed at the value defined by state law and that taxation statewide is applied equitably," he said. "An equitable assessment level among counties is also necessary for a fair distribution of school aid and other state services."
Jasper County Assessor John Deegan said this afternoon that he plans to appeal both the residential and commercial equalization order increases tentatively issued by the state.
The equalization order for Jasper County is for the Jan. 1, 2009 assessments.
Friday's release to assessors statewide are only preliminary orders. Final orders will be issued in October. Taxpayers have an opportunity to appeal increases in their assessments to their local boards of review between Oct. 16 and 25.
You can follow a chart that lists equalization orders for assessing jurisdictions statewide as well view maps of the agricultural, residential and commercial tentative orders by following the links.
The Department issued equalization orders in 16 residential assessing jurisdictions, 23 commercial property areas and 31 agricultural zones for a total of 70. Two years ago the Department issued 126 orders on the three classes of property. The maximum number of equalization orders that could be issued statewide is 321.
Schuling noted that residential and commercial assessments are based upon sales and the market value of the properties. Most jurisdictions did not see an increase.
"Many jurisdictions were within the 5 percent of the statutory assessment level on their property classifications and did not receive equalization orders," Schuling said.
Agricultural property assessments, however, are based on productivity and not market value.
"Assessments for agricultural property are increasing 48 percent in 2009," Schuling said. "This is primarily because of the high crop prices for the last two years. However, the statewide 'rollback' factor that is applied uniformly to all properties within a class will limit taxable value growth to 4 percent for agricultural property. A majority of the assessors made the assessment changes last spring and are not receiving equalization orders."
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