Linn County tax base jumps

Linn County's tax base grew by $418 million in 2009, to $14.9 billion, according to property values released by the Linn County Auditor's Office.

The countywide residential property tax base grew by $122.6 million, to $10.44 billion.

Commercial property values barely moved in 2009. The value of commercial ground across the county increased, but commercial buildings as a whole lost value. The industrial tax base grew by $34.9 million.

For the taxpayer, the biggest news in all this is the change to the rollback. Because of a boost from the state's rollback formula, taxable residential property value grew by even more - $211 million.

This budget year, 45.56 percent of the value of residential property is taxed, but in the budget year that begins July 1, the percentage will go to 46.91 percent. In Cedar Rapids, that's a 2.9 percent increase in homeowner property taxes, without any change to levy rates.

A large portion of the county's growth came from increases in the assessed value of farmland, the value of which jumped by 45 percent thanks to high crop prices in 2006 and 2007. Because the agricultural rollback drops from 93.85 percent to 66. 27 percent, farmers will hardly be affected.