Scotts Bluff County Board members Monday night said expressed a desire to do something to address property valuations in the county as notices hit mailboxes showing valuations rising by as much as 44% for some residential properties, but their options are limited
The subject came up during open comments toward the end of the meeting, with Commissioner Charlie Knapper saying the massive increases would have a significant impact on taxpayers.
After similar, but smaller, percentage increases hit residential properties in certain communities last year, the county-wide nature of this year’s increases has Knapper anticipating a lot more protests this year. “The volume is much greater than it was last year, and last year we were able to manage it down to three days of protests, which is the least amount of protests we’ve had since I’ve been on the board,” said Knapper. “Now, we’re probably looking at two weeks, if not two and a half weeks of protests, just based on the feedback I’ve got today.”
Knapper said he’d like to see if the Board of Equalization could take some sort of action to limit the rise in valuations to a manageable increase of a few percentage points throughout the county, but Assessor Angela Dillman said that would require a change to state statutes.
Dillman said valuations at a median 95 percent of market value for residential properties for this year, commercial properties at 94 percent and agricultural property at 71 percent. She told KNEB News late last month that the biggest driver of the increase in valuations has been market sales over the past three years, each of which has seen an increase in average prices, especially in the residential housing market.
Board members still expressed a desire to take any steps they could within the law to temper the higher valuations, but Commissioner Mark Harris noted there’s never been a blanket motion affecting a group of properties, whether 30 or 3,000, only individual properties in which the owner has filed a protest.
Forms to protest valuations are available through the county website, and have to be filed by the end of the month with hearings currently set to begin in mid-July ahead of a required completion date of the 25th.
