Some Linn County property owners worry too much public info poses security threat

Members of the Linn County Farm Bureau said Tuesday they don't like having pictures and sketches of their homes on the Linn County Assessor's Website.

The assessors of both Linn County and Cedar Rapids list all private property on their Web sites, including the name of the owner, the assessed value, and any recent sales. In many cases, the listing includes a picture of the home and a simple floor plan.

Farm Bureau officials, many of them rural residents, said the information poses a specific security threat to rural homes, because it gives burglars the information needed to knock off a house with no near neighbors.

“That's a real concern that anybody can just check you out from top to bottom,” said Dave Machacek, a farmer north of Alburnett.

Curt Zingula, president of the Linn County Farm Bureau, suggested the information should be available by log in only. Julie Kester, Linn County assessor, said this is done in some counties, where users must subscribe to the information, but Linn County has no plans to set up a pay wall.

The Farm Bureau complaint was timely. The Conference Board - a group of county supervisors, school district representatives and mayors who oversee the assessor - meets Wednesday and will talk about the possibility of including pictometry on the Website. Pictometry is four-dimensional photos that allow assessors to measure a building, or firefighters to plan their attack on a house fire.

“You can look at the house from all four sides, you can zoom in on the house,” Kester said.

The images are used by city and county officials, but are not available to the public online - for now.