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County appeals process to begin
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By ELISA SAND, Staff Reporter
| 02/04/2010 |
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The appeals process for property valuations will soon begin in Lake County. Starting March 1, new property valuations will be mailed to county residents, and owners of agricultural property will notice some changes. Lake County Equalization Director Shirley Ebsen discussed the appeals process with Lake County Commissioners on Tuesday. She said residents will have until March 11 to submit written appeals to local township and municipal boards. Those appeals are heard during the week of March 15-19.
From there, appeals may be made to the county Board of Equalization, which are due in writing by April 6. The Board of Equalization meets on April 13 and has until May 4 to conclude business.
During the county Board of Equalization meetings, appeal decisions made by township and municipal boards are reviewed. Ebsen said that if the board determines those decisions were made fairly and equitably, changes are put into place.
Persons residing within the boundaries of a township or municipality are required to first appeal valuations to the local board and can then appeal to the county board.
Not all appeals are required to go before township officials first. Ebsen said a farmer who lives in LeRoy Township and is concerned about property in Badus Township could appeal his Badus Township property valuations directly to the county board. It might be an advantage to appeal to the township board first, she said, because that board may have a better understanding of the property and there may be other appeals to the local board that represent similar concerns.
Ebsen said the biggest change reflected in this year's valuations will be seen in ag property, which is now being valued based on its ability to produce crop or grass.
"We will see increases in values from the productivity formula," Ebsen said. "These changes are based only on the soil type in the parcels."
Soil types, she said, are classified in one of two categories -- grass land and crop land.
"Grass will go up more," she said. "(But) each property has changed a little differently."
Ebsen said grassland is seeing a more notable change because it has been undervalued; soil ratings have previously been based only on a property's ability to produce a crop.
Another change residents will note is that property previously classified with a zero rating -- like marsh land -- will now have a minimal value.
"All marsh acres will have a rating," Ebsen said, indicating that change came from state officials who said all land must have some value.
This change affects nearly 11,000 acres of marsh land and land classified as a depleted gravel pit (281.72 acres).
In a previous meeting with commissioners, Ebsen said that one challenge with the new formula for valuations has been taking into account adjustments made to properties over the years. With this new formula, she said, some adjustments were retained and others were removed.
"Quite a few adjustments based on the market will be removed," she said. "Changes made based on characteristics of the land stayed."
For anyone under the impression that changing the valuation process from market to productivity would decrease valuations, Ebsen said, one thing to keep in mind is the fact that valuations were never at market value. Valuations kept increasing in an effort to reach market value.
During Tuesday's commission meeting, Ebsen said that she would like to have an open meeting with the public about the valuation changes. One opportunity for that meeting will be during the town and township meeting held in early March.
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