Tempers Flare At New Property Tax Valuations…But Who is to Blame?

By Gordon HopkinsProperty valuations are set in accordance with state statutes and based on market value. That was the number one point Jefferson County Commissioners wanted to emphasize at a meeting Tuesday morning, June 4, 2024.This week, Jefferson County residents began receiving their property valuations in the mail. The response was immediate and almost universally negative, with many people reporting increases of more than double from the previous year.Among those angry is Fairbury Mayor Spencer Brown, who issued a statement to FJN, “In the entire time I have owned property in Nebraska, I have never seen such a wide spread (sic) uprising of people over their valuations until now. The complete disregard for what these massive increases mean for people's monthly budget is frightening. I urge everyone to file a protest as needed and follow the process. I know there is more to this topic, and it will be interesting to see what develops on the state and county level in the next couple weeks.”On Facebook, the mayor posted, “Jefferson Co. Assessor better be ready to justify this.”Due to the outcry, commissioners want to make sure people understand the basis for the increase is not due to any county decision.Jefferson County Assessor Mary Banahan was present at the meeting and explained the process, “Generally, valuations are set every year, based on a state mandated sales period in towns and villages.”The sales period is two years for residential and commercial property and three years for agricultural property. The sales period ended September 30, 2023. Commission Chair Gale Pohlmann said, “Basically, governed by state statute, correct?”Banahan confirmed this was so, “State statute says this what we have to do we have to be within a certain percentage of what market value is, or what we determine market value to be.”Banahan also explained that not following the market price is not an option, “All of our values are sent to the Department of Revenue. They review them, then they make a report to the Tax Equalization Review Commission (TERC), who then reviews their work and our work to make sure that we're within statutory compliance. If we're not, then the state will issue an order, telling us what we have to do.”Commissioner Mark Schoenrock observed, “So, it's based on market value. The market value of properties here in the county have increased, I would say, rather substantially.”Banahan said, “Yes, they have.”As to why market value has increased so significantly, Banahan's explanation was succinct, “Somebody's selling it for that price. Somebody's buying it for that price.”Residential and commercial real property is valued at 100 percent of its actual value. Agricultural land is valued at 72 percent of its actual value.For those people who have questions about how their valuations were determined, Banahan said, “I would encourage everybody to come into the (assessor's) office and we'll be more than happy to explain how we arrived at the valuation of property.”

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