News and Events

May 2, 2007

County Assessed Values Up an Avereage of 6.9%!

Deadline Approaching for Contesting:

COUNTY ASSESSED
VALUES UP AN
AVERAGE OF 6.9%!

If you’re a homeowner in Polk County, the mailperson has already brought you the new property valuation for your home. It may have been shocking to see that your home, in the eyes of the Assessor, has increased by several thousands in value. How did the Assessor arrive at this number and can I fight it?

The new property valuation is required every 2 years and is based upon a market analysis done by the Assessor. The market analysis draws upon sales data collected from the past 3 years to determine your rate of increase from the previous valuation. The problem for many homeowners is the fact that sales prices over the last 3 years are higher than what the home would sell for today. In fact, many new homeowners have assessed values much higher than they paid for their home and further, many actively listed homes for sale have assessed values higher than their current asking price!

If you believe the new valuation is too high, the Assessor allows you to contest the valuation by filing a protest by June 5, 2007(Due to a disaster declaration the deadline for filing for 2007 has been extended to June 5th). Forms are available online at: http://www.assess.co.polk.ia.us/web/basic/protestforms.html. These forms require that you provide evidence from previous sales data that the Assessor should consider when reevaluating your property. The good new is - although the property tax valuation may have increased the actual tax you pay may not. If elected officials lower the tax rate or rollback amount, we may not actually see an increase in our property tax amount! I’d start saving for a tax increase – I haven’t seen any flying pigs lately.

Back to News