Economic recovery drives Boone County property values
An average 8 percent increase in the value of residential property in Boone County was driven by a healthy housing market rebounding from the Great Recession, the county assessor said Wednesday.
The assessor’s office mailed out 43,639 notices May 1 with average increase in assessed value of residential property of about 8 percent.
“It wasn’t a uniform, across the board, flat 8 percent — some got 4, some got 8, some didn’t change at all,” Boone County Assessor Tom Schauwecker said.
Schauwecker said it’s more difficult to value older homes, so property owners in the older Boone County neighborhoods saw larger increases.
Local taxing districts including schools, which rely heavily on property taxes, budget for property reassessment, but the average budgeted increase is only 2 or 3 percent.
“We’ve recovered from 2008 and so we’re beginning to move those numbers up,” Schauwecker said. “The median price of an existing home increased by about 8 percent in the last two years.”
Property is reassessed every two years.
Schauwecker said the economic crash in 2008 made his job easier from 2009 through 2011, but now things are bouncing back, so property owners could see bigger changes.
As far as the effect on taxes, Schauwecker said it will still be a few months before there’s an answer.
“We really won’t know what our tax bills will look like until August or September,” Schauwecker said. “Eighty cents of every property tax dollar goes to support public education. So when the school board sets the rate, that’s the number we want to pay attention to.”
For property owners who disagree with the valuation of their home, there is an appeals process that starts with contacting the assessor’s office. Schauwecker said it’s the assessor’s job to determine a property’s value and it’s important to keep that in mind during any appeal.
“When you converse with us please focus on the value of your home rather than taxation,” Schauwecker said.
Appeals need to be started on or before June 17.
