Property owners protest valuations

Many homeowners in Bartley and Indianola are seeing considerable increases in the latest valuation of their residences, and some are protesting these increases during hearings before Red Willow County commissioners.

Bartley and Indianola property owners, as well as other tax payers throughout the county, are questioning commissioners and County Assessor Sandra Kotschwar about tax valuation increases that are, for the most part, driven by market value and recent sales of similar property.

One property owner, resigned that his tax valuation was indeed probably right, told commissioners and Kotschwar, "It's hard to argue valuation with sales to back it up."

Residential properties in Nebraska must be valued at between 92 and 100 percent of market value. Kotschwar said in 2004, statistics indicated that Bartley homes were valued at 88 percent and Indianola homes at 89.81 percent. A year later, statistics put Bartley homes at 74 percent and Indianola homes at 81.89 percent.

Looking at statistics such as this, residential properties in Indianola have been under-valued by up to 19 percent for the last four years, Kotschwar said.

After mass re-valuation of residential properties in the two communities, Bartley's homes are now at 93.43 percent of market value and Indianola's at 98.05 percent.

Kotschwar told one Bartley home owner who protested before commissioners Thursday afternoon that there had been enough sales in Bartley to indicate to her that valuation rates were below the 92-100 percent required by the state.

"That's why we had to redo Bartley," Kotschwar said, "because there have been sales of properties in Bartley that showed we were low in valuation."

Commission Chairman Earl McNutt agreed with the Bartley homeowner that some houses do sell for more than they're actually worth. "These houses, as they become older, shouldn't become more valuable," McNutt said. Yet, he said, people seem to be willing to pay what to the neighbors are exorbitant prices.

McNutt said that to adjust residential property values in Indianola and Bartley, the assessor's office did "mass appraisals," based on sales of properties similar in square footage, age and quality and by neighborhoods.

Some properties within a mass appraisal fall outside the normal parameters and need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. In those cases, commissioners and Kotschwar will investigate deeper.

McNutt told a homeowner from Indianola that they will look at her property more closely after she told them that her home needs a new foundation, a new roof and a new boiler, and that the stairs and the porch need extensive repairs.

Exterior conditions are often deceptive, McNutt said. "We don't know the details of the interior, and that hurts the process," McNutt said. "It's hard looking from the outside to make a true consideration of the condition." Kotschwar attached photographs of the crumbling brick basement to the protest form filed with commissioners.

A McCook couple presented a similar case, in which the home they moved into a month ago has an updated exterior, but outdated wiring and plumbing. "The information you've provided us will be valuable, rather than our trying to visualize it (the interior) from the outside."

Commissioner Steve Downer told the couple, "You done a protest as it needs to be done. You've given us information and evidence, rather than just coming in to complain."

The homeowner, holding a new baby, told commissioners this was their first home. "It would be nice to help with our budgeting if the taxes didn't increase a month after we move in," she said.

McNutt told the couple, "You done sufficient homework to give us reason to reevaluate the situation."

McNutt said the valuation protest process provides an opportunity for commissioners to check into a possible re-valuation of a property. "That's the key to a protest," McNutt said, providing information to justify further investigation.

Kotschwar said in the case of older homes, there is often a discrepancy between the "actual age" and the "effective age." Updates such as new siding and new windows can improve the exterior of a home beyond its actual age, she said.

Commissioner Leigh Hoyt explained the difference between "improvements" and "updates" to a McCook homeowner upset with an increase in his home's valuation.

Hoyt said an "improvement" is anything -- absolutely anything, including the house -- that is placed upon the land. The house is an "improvement" upon the land, Hoyt said.

An "update" is a change -- new windows, new siding, an addition, remodeling -- he said.

The irate homeowner told commissioners he thought his valuation was too high, despite the fact that he admittedly paid thousands and thousands of dollars more than the valuation set on the house two years ago, when he purchased it. "Everybody overpays," he said. "I shouldn't be penalized for overpaying."

The man told commissioners the valuation of his home should not be any higher than that earlier valuation, that if that was what it was worth two years ago, that's what it's worth now. "I ain't did anything to it," the man told commissioners. "Like I say, I ain't touched my house, and nobody around me has done nothing to their houses either."

The man told commissioners he "just wanted to have my say." McNutt said, "That's why we have this process."

McNutt told all those at the hearings that the commissioners' minds aren't made up yet. They, with Kotschwar, will review evidence and information submitted and drive by any properties about which they have concerns.

"Nothing can be changed without a protest," McNutt said. "They're all judgment calls on our part, and we'll try to be as fair and consistent as we can be."

Commissioners and Kots-chwar plan protest hearings through July 14.

Their final decisions must be submitted to the state by July 25.

If a homeowner is not satisfied with a decision made by the commissioners, an appeal can be filed, for $25, with Nebraska's Tax Equalization Review Commission.