Getting an assessment increase notice from the county assessor can be an initial shock to most homeowners, who see a bigger tax bill in their future. However, the recent reassessments in Sac County can also be viewed in a positive light. Assessor, Justin Barlow, says for most people, their home is their biggest investment and asset so, “having your investment increase in value is a good thing…but this can be hard to swallow come tax time.” Barlow says there were a couple of major reasons for some homeowners seeing large assessment increases this year. They perform reassessments in odd years and they saw a 40 percent increase in residential sales from 2019 to 2020. Lower interest rates and the limited number of homes on the market had many properties selling well over assessed value. Barlow says they need to adjust accordingly. “Our goal is to be at 100 percent market value,” he explains. “When a home sells, we take the assessed value and divide it by the sale price. This creates a sale ratio. The State of Iowa requires the median sales ratio of all our sales be between 95 percent to 105 percent.” Sac County’s ratio was under 86 percent, requiring the adjustment before an across-the-board increase of 16.5 percent is mandated by the state. Even though there was a jump in the previous year, Barlow says residential property values have been trending upward for the past four to six years. Barlow says their region does not have enough commercial sales for reliable data, so 12 are selected by the Iowa Department of Revenue and treated as like sales. That data is used for the same ratio study. Commercial rates have risen about 10 percent with multi-residential up around 14 percent. Ag land values, calculated on productivity and net earning capacity on a five-year rolling average, rose between 11 and 12 percent. After new assessments are recorded, the Department of Revenue issues a roll back in the fall. This determines taxable values. The following year, schools, counties and cities set their budgets and those establish the levy rate. “If there is more taxable value to levy against, the levies should go down,” Barlow says. The new assessments will be used to figure taxes for the fall of 2022. Anyone with questions is encouraged to contact the Assessor’s Office through the methods detailed below.
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To contact the Sac County Assessor’s Office:
Phone: 712-662-4492
Email: jbarlow@saccounty.org
In person: Sac County Courthouse
100 NW State St., Ste. 3
Sac City, Iowa 50583
Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
(in the basement of the courthouse)