Residential tax valuations see smallest increase in years
By Brandy Nance
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Residential properties valuations in Lyon County saw the smallest increase in this year’s valuations since 2003.
Gary Post, Lyon County Appraiser presented valuation information to Lyon County commissioners during today’s Lyon County commission study session. From 2006 to 2007 there was a five percent increase in residential values.
“This includes new construction,” Post told commissioners. “I want to caution you that these numbers had not been subjected to property owners yet. These are not certified numbers that I want you to build your budget on.”
Post said that agricultural land is down seven percent but agricultural houses or rural farmsteads are up almost seven percent.
“This is a combination of several things,” Post said. “People like to live in the country and therefore there is a demand...the prices that people are willing to pay may me nervous. Therefore you are seeing a higher increase than you are in the cities.”
Post said once valuations are mailed out later this week, the parcel search Web site will be open to the public on www.lyoncounty.org until the last day of appeals, which is April 2. The user name is “sales” and the password is “sales.” From the county’s home page, property owners should follow the link to the Appraiser’s Web site and click on parcel search.
Also during today’s meeting, Gary Eichorn, Lyon County Sheriff, asked for approval to spend up to $3,500 from the county’s drug seizure fund to purchase seven simulated pistols and two simulated rifles for use in training exercises. The purchase is a cooperative with the Emporia Police Department, Eichorn said.
“Rather than each of us buy weapons to practice with, we’ll split that,” Eichorn said.
Eichorn said the equipment will allow for more efficient training.
“It’s the real-life scenario that you’re after,” he said.
The purchase was placed on tomorrow’s consent agenda.
Other items discussed during today’s county commission meeting:
• Robert Sullivan, Community Corrections director, reviewed the 2008 Juvenile Justice Authority Block Grant and reviewed the purchase of equipment using 2006 unexpended funds in the amount of $6,943 and county funds of $1,219.
• Post discussed the purchase of software linking the Register of Deeds information to the Appraiser’s Office in the amount of $2,460. The software will create an active on-line link to the Registers of Deeds’ filed and scanned deeds and the Sale Validation Questionnaire. The money originally encumbered in 2004. The item was placed on tomorrow’s consent agenda.
outsidethebox (anonymous) says...
How can the value on house go up when NO ONE has been to my home to appraise it??
February 28, 2007 at 2:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Phil_Dillon (anonymous) says...
Brandy
The title of this piece isn't close to being accurate! Tax valuations are not going down! I spoke this morning with Gary Post and found that residential valuations were going up on average by 5% and the valuation on businesses was going up on average by 8%. Given the current mill levy that will mean an increase of $100 to $130 per year or more for the average Emporian. For business owners that means an increase of $360 to $750 per year. That may not seem like much to the Gazette, but to someone living on a fixed income or low wage it's huge. For a business owner making widgets, for example, it would mean having to sell hundreds more widgets per month to make up for the tax drain. Business conditions here are hard enough as they are and increasing business just to pay additional taxes is unacceptable. It's one of the reasons downtown businesses are leaving Emporia. For a homeowner on fixed or low income it means a less disposable income to put back into the city's economy.
Taxes here are excessive. For example, a homeowner in Massachusetts living in an average valued home there ($362,000) pays an average tax bill of $3700 per year. If Emporia's current mill levy were applied to that home the average citizen of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts would be obliged to pay a tax bill of $6200 per year.
What needs to be done with the 2007 budget is to shrink it to the point that the mill levy is decreased by 8 to 10 mills to at least keep taxes at last year's level.
Outsidethebox is right to ask the question. Market conditions haven't driven valuations up, The increase is simply something very arbitrary. I say it's time to reverse this by decreasing the mill levy in the increments I mentioned earlier.
Phil Dillon
Candidate for City Commissioner.
February 28, 2007 at 5:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )