Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Property owners getting notices about changes in assessments

Property owners throughout Nevada County will soon be receiving notice concerning changes in their assessments.

Tom Scott, with Arkansas CAMA, updated the Nevada County Quorum Court as to what will soon be taking place with the reappraisals in the county.

The reappraisal process began in 1999 after Nevada, and most counties in Arkansas, were found to be out of compliance. Locally, there hadn't been a reappraisal done in 20 years.

The first thing CAMA did after setting up shop in the county, was a property inspection, wherein every piece of property in the county was visited and given an on-site inspection.

This information was then processed and entered into a system with warranty information.

Scott said when the process is finished, the county will have a wealth of information for the assessor. "It will be the most complete information Nevada County has ever had."

The program can be utilized to analyze the information in a variety of ways, while also making it easier for future appraisals to be done.

Overall, he said, the countywide appraisals will go up about 15 percent. But, this doesn't mean everyone's property taxes will be raised by this amount.

Some property increased in value, while other property decreased in value.

Inside the Prescott city limits, he said, the overall increase was 30 percent.

Across the county, the appraised value of 3,500 to 3,600 pieces of property went up, while staying the same on around 7,000 parcels, Scott said.

The lowest value of land in the county, he said, is $105 an acre for pastures, while the highest was $400 an acre.

However, he added, the county does not set the cost of the land, and these prices do not reflect market value. These figures, he said, are use values on agricultural land.

The statistics, he said, are 97-100 percent complete of the full market value of all properties in the county. This is done for equity and fairness.

Owners will receive a notice for each parcel of property they own, and, Scott said, they need to take a few minutes and read it to see what the changes are.

A new word has been coined because of the reappraisal  taxable value. This was due to the changes made in 1999, he said.

Those owners who see increases in their property taxes, though, won't have to pay the entire amount at once.

The system has been set up so the tax increases will be added in over a three-year period, at a third each year.

By the year 2003, the full assessed value will be paid.

However, this doesn't take into account the $300 tax credit many in the state are eligible for.

This credit, Scott said, is for the principal residence only, not all property, and no one will be getting cash back.

Those not familiar with this, he said, should check with the county assessor about it.

When all is said and done, he continued, for those who disagree with their new assessments, there is a process they can go through to air their grievances.

The first step is to call the assessor.

If this doesn't work, a meeting can be scheduled with the county board of equalization. However, this board, made up of five county residents, cannot lower taxes just because someone thinks they're too high.

The property owner needs to bring information showing how their assessment is out of line with surrounding land.

Should the board of equalization not provide the desired result, the next step would be county court, wherein the county judge would hear the matter and decide.