Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

CAMA updates Court on appraisals

Tom Scott, with Arkansas CAMA, discussed reappraisals with the Nevada County Quorum Court.

This was done at the Court's regular monthly meeting, Monday, July 12.

Scott said CAMA is basically finished with the reappraisals, but it's time to start them again. However, the Court will have to bid the project out as it did the first time.

The appraisals were started in November 2001. CAMA has been renting the former Nevada County Health Unit by the old Nevada County Hospital. This was done after fire destroyed the building the company was renting.

Scott said CAMA has a pool of 80 employees statewide, with 10 working out of the Prescott office.

The reappraisal work began with the passage of Act 1185 of 1989, and requires all counties in Arkansas to appraise all property every three years. Scott said the Nevada County reappraisal in 1990 was the first one done in 15-20 years. One of the problems following was many residents saw their property tax increase by 15-20 percent.

However, he said, Act 1185 was designed to cut the percentage of tax increase. In essence, the tax increases were spread out over a period of years. Scott said the most recent appraisal showed a 5 percent increase in the county.

"Reappraisal wasn't designed to increase revenue," he said, "but to create equity of property in the county. If we continue we'll see it work, if the Legislature leaves it alone."

The percentage, he said, doesn't mean all property tax went up. In fact, Scott pointed out, several property owners saw their taxes go down. The 5 percent is an mean total, and each individual piece of property is different.

In rural areas, he said, agricultural property value per acre hasn't changed since 2001, and the state made no changes either.

With the current appraisal being done, Scott said CAMA will amend what it did three years ago. The records are in good shape and the information is entered into the database of the Nevada County Assessor's Office.

"This information is invaluable to the county," he said. "9-1-1 will be interested in it." The data can also be used to inform prospective businesses and industry of the property values in the county.

The statistics, he said, are running at 98-99 percent of the market value of the property.

The state audit projects reappraisals needing to be done every three years, Scott said. While there have been no problems, Nevada County could be one seeing the appraisal work done every five years because of its size.

Property owners whose taxes will be going up will receive a notice of change of assessment letter in the mail. Those who don't receive a letter need not panic. It means their property taxes didn't increase.

Anyone who disagrees with CAMA's findings can file an appeal with the Board of Equalization before August 16. After this date the appraisal can't be challenged. If this decision is opposed, the property owner can take their case to the Nevada County Judge, then the Nevada County Circuit Court. However, this has never been done in the county.

"We try to catch our mistakes," Scott said. "We don't want to intimidate anyone and we try to provide people with information showing they were treated fairly."

Scott said CAMA has enjoyed working in Nevada County and plans to bid to keep doing the reappraisals here.