Eastern Iowa homeowners see sharp property assessment increases

CEDAR RAPIDS — When Laura Yindra received her assessment notice and saw the assessed value of her two-story Marion home rose a whopping 43 percent — to $327,800 — she was surprised, to say the least.

But after she searched comparable homes in her part of town on the Linn County Assessor’s website, Yindra said she found no evidence that the increase was out of line with sales in her neighborhood. She saw houses that sold in 2022 for prices ranging from $315,000 to $350,000.

Yindra, who works in software engineering, purchased her home in 2015. Since then, one of the higher spikes in assessed value she saw was a $10,000 increase, but never close to this year’s nearly $100,000 bump to what previously was an assessed value of $228,800.

Two-story houses weren’t the most popular when her family moved in, but now it seems that’s not the case, Yindra said.

“I thought I’d just have to go find some comparable two-stories, and I found out, well, I guess two-stories really are selling for that much,” Yindra said.

Since her assessed value seems to check out with the market, Yindra said she doesn’t see what grounds she’d have to request a reassessment. And overall, she’s not worried about the tax bill.

Yindra is far from the only homeowner in the Corridor whose property assessment has dramatically increased. As part of a nationwide trend, assessments — which reflect a property’s market value based on sales in a particular market — have risen.

The average increase across Iowa this year is 22 percent, area assessors said.

Assessments represent the market change — what you could sell your house for if you were to sell it — over a two-year period from January 2021 through December 2022. Iowa Code states that residential and commercial property must be valued in odd numbered years.

Despite the sharp increase in assessments, county and city assessors said residents should understand this does not mean their property tax bill will see the same increase.

Linn County

Linn County Assessor Jerry Witt, who oversees assessments for all areas of the county except Cedar Rapids, said this trend is the result of the sale of houses in a market that took off after the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of Friday, Witt said the assessor’s office has conducted about 200 informal reviews and about 100 residents have filed official protests to challenge their assessments with the Board of Review. County notices were sent in early March, almost a month earlier than usual, because Witt said the assessor’s office suspected there’d be a high volume of protests.

“People didn't think we were ever at market value, which is probably because the market was always slowly increasing, so they figured it was just a budgetary thing that your taxes are going to go up a little bit,” Witt said. “But this year, it's different. And then they're like, ‘Well, you've never been in market value,’ but we always have been — at least the last 50 years, probably even longer than that.”

The good news, he said, is that because everyone’s value has gone up and Linn County properties aren’t an anomaly, the percentage of taxable value drops. That’s because the state’s “rollback” rate, or assessment limitation, caps the taxable value of a property.

Cedar Rapids

In Cedar Rapids, city Assessor Julie Carson said the city’s median percentage of change in value for residential property was more than 14 percent this year, though there are areas of the city where that increase was higher or lower.

Carson said Cedar Rapids’ increase was lower than the state’s 22 percent average because her office revalues property every year versus every odd assessment year as required by state law.

As of Monday morning, there had been 185 informal reviews and 82 Board of Review petitions received in Cedar Rapids. In the last three years, the assessor’s office saw the highest number of reviews in 2021 as a result of the 2020 derecho.

Matthew Dockter and his wife, who works as an accounting auditor, purchased their northeast Cedar Rapids home in 2014. Looking at trends in their neighborhood, they estimated their assessment would come back around $250,000, he said. Ultimately, it wasn’t far off, totaling a “very reasonable” $244,700, he said. In 2021, assessor’s records show the assessed value of the Dockters’ home was $195,200.

The Dockters have an escrow account as part of their home mortgage, Dockter said, so any increase in taxes as a result of value is buffered. Dockter said they may have to make a catch-up payment to cover the increase, but the spike wasn’t large enough to alarm him. He didn’t plan to appeal his assessment.

“We like to pay attention to what's going on around us and be in front of certain things,” Dockter said. “And we were also considerably lucky. We have a fairly small street that we live on — a cul-de-sac. We have three homes within view of our front door, one of which sold twice within the last three years. We were able to see, ‘Wow, three neighbors just sold their houses for a lot more money than what the assessments have been worth lately.’”

Johnson County

Residential property assessments in Johnson County increased, on average, about 20 percent, county assessor Tom Van Buer said. Commercial property assessments in the county increased an average of 13 percent.

Van Buer said he doesn’t know when Johnson County last saw increases of this amount.

As of Monday, Van Buer said his office had received 17 assessment agreements after informal review, and 15 petitions to the Board of Review.

Among the common questions Van Buer’s office has received is if the market goes down, will values decrease?

“Yes, we would follow the same process to make sure we are within the state law provided tolerances of sales ratios,” Van Buer said.

Iowa City

In Iowa City, the assessments of single family homes increased 21.7 percent on average, city assessor Brad Comer said. Commercial assessments averaged an increase of 13.7 percent, and residential with three units or more increased 15.8 percent, Comer added.

Sales analysis included looking at neighborhood, style of home, story height, square footage and condition, according to the Iowa City office.

The previous high mark for assessment increases in Iowa City was 2005, when there was an average increase of 18.2 percent, Comer said.

As of Monday, Comer said his office had received four signed assessment agreements following informal review, and 22 petitions to the Board of Review.

“The numbers will change quite a bit before this is done, as many people wait closer to deadlines,” Comer said.

Brian Kaldenberg, owner of Kaldenberg Apartments which rents apartments and single-family homes in the Iowa City area, said the assessments of the apartments he owns increased by 4 to 5 percent.

Kaldenberg had no concerns with that increase but said he was surprised by the “skyrocketing residential assessments.” His Iowa City home went up 25 percent and one of his neighbors saw the same increase.

“I can only go back to as far as 2008 — that's when I bought my first property — and as far as I can remember, this is certainly by far the biggest increase in a single year that I've ever experienced percentage wise,” Kaldenberg said.

One of Kaldenberg’s single family rentals — a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Iowa City — increased 19.3 percent.

Assessments are one piece of property taxes

City and county assessors said assessments are only one piece of the final property tax bill — though residents often see their notice and assume because their assessment rose a certain amount, their tax bill will see the same bump.

The state’s rollback rate caps how much of a property’s value can be taxed. Then, levy rates are set by taxing entities such as the city, county and school district.

“Certainly the low interest rates that had occurred during the 2022 calendar year played a role in the increased sale prices that have occurred throughout our state,” Carson said. “We’re just here to be reactive to market conditions.”

Van Buer added, “I think the most important thing for people to know is that their taxes will not be increasing at the same percentage that their value changed. The assessment limitation is in place for that very reason, to protect the tax payers from such large changes in the market.”

How to appeal

Property owners are encouraged to contact their assessor’s office as soon as possible to ensure their request is processed in a timely fashion while there’s a high volume of appeals.

Residents have until April 25 to ask for an informal review. Property owners may file a formal property assessment appeal with their jurisdiction’s assessor’s office to be heard by the Board of Review through April 30.

Cedar Rapids residents: Contact the City Assessor’s Office to ask for an informal review or file a formal appeal petition. To do that, call (319) 286-5888, email crassessor@cedar-rapids.org or visit the office in the City Services Center, 500 15th Ave. SW. Informal reviews will be conducted between April 3-25. Information and forms are available at cedarrapids.iowaassessors.com/forms.php.

Linn County residents outside of Cedar Rapids: To contact the Linn County Assessor’s Office, call (319) 892-5220; email Assessor.Account@linncountyiowa.gov; or go to the assessor’s office in the Jean Oxley Linn County Service Center, 935 Second St. SW in Cedar Rapids.

Iowa City residents: Contact the City Assessor’s Office for an informal review by calling (319) 356-6066 or emailing cityassr@johnsoncountyiowa.gov. Additional information on a formal petition can be found at iowacity.iowaassessors.com.

Johnson County residents outside of Iowa City: Contact the County Assessor’s Office for an informal review by calling (319) 356-6078 or emailing coassessor@johnsoncountyiowa.gov. Additional information on formal petition can be found at johnsoncountyiowa.gov/department-of-county-assessor.

Comments: (319) 398-8494; marissa.payne@thegazette.com