Property values prompt few appeals this year

CEDAR RAPIDS - Fewer Cedar Rapids property owners have appealed the valuation of their property to the city's Board of Review than in any year since 2006.

City Assessor Scott Labus said that's likely because many residential properties' valuations were unchanged from the previous year. About 30 of 200 assessment neighborhoods had property values increase, about 50 saw values decrease and the rest stayed the same.

Overall, the value of residential property in town rose only about 1 percent, Labus said.

Owners of 593 properties filed appeals with the Board of Review by the May 7 deadline. They include 510 of the city's 49,175 residential parcels, 78 of the 3,597 commercial parcels and five of the 194 industrial parcels.

The five-member board is meeting into June to consider the appeals, which will include in-person presentations by the owners of 292 residential parcels, all 78 commercial parcels and one industrial parcel. The others filing appeals will depend on written documentation to make their cases.

In each of the last four years, more appeals were denied than upheld.

Labus said the highest number of appeals in recent years - 3,484 - came in 2010, when most residential properties saw an increase in valuation. The low point was in 2006, when appeals were filed for just 487 parcels.

In Iowa City, the Assessor's Office reviewed 107 appeals on property assessments for 2012. The Board of Review there lowered 24 property values, increased the value of one property and denied 82 appeals.

City Assessor Dennis Baldridge said that is about average for an off year, when not all real estate is reassessed.