The Assessor's Office is located in the Southwest corner of the first floor of the Crawford County Courthouse. We are open weekdays, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding holidays.
COUNTY ASSESSOR |
|
DEPUTY ASSESSOR |
|
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT |
|
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT |
|
FIELD APPRAISER |
Ryan Sonnichsen |
Need Property Information?
The Assessor's Office can provide you with property assessment information, comparative sales information, maps of property boundaries, farm CSR ratings, and various types of interesting information about real estate located in Crawford County. Most of our information is Public Record and is available to you--just ask! We are here to serve your needs.
The assessor is charged with several administrative and statutory duties. The primary duty and responsibility is to make sure all real property within his jurisdiction is assessed except where the law provides otherwise. This includes residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural classes of property.
Real property is revalued every two years. The effective date of the assessment is the first day of January of the current year. The assessor determines either a full or partial value for new construction and improvements depending upon their state of completion on January first. For example, if you build a new home in April of this year, it will not be assessed until January 1 of next year. Likewise, if you tear down a building in April of this year, it will stay on the tax roll until January 1 of next year. Although the assessed value of your property has a direct bearing on the amount of property taxes you pay, the actual tax amount you are assessed is determined by the budget needs of the schools, city, county, and other taxing groups. The tax levy will vary depending on which school district the property is located in.
The Assessor does not:
The Assessor is concerned with value, not taxes.
Taxing jurisdictions such as schools, cities and townships, adopt budgets after public hearings. This determines the tax levy, which is the rate of taxation required to raise the money budgeted.
The taxes you pay are proportional to the value of your property compared to the total value of property in your taxing district.
Assessors are appointed to their position by a Conference Board consisting of the members of the Board of Supervisors, the Mayors of all incorporated cities, and a member from each school district within the jurisdiction. A city with a population of ten thousand or more may elect to have their own assessor.
Assessors are required by statute to pass a state examination and complete a Continuing Education Program consisting of 150 hours of formal classroom instruction with 90 hours tested and a passing grade of 70% attained. The latter requirement must be met in order for the Assessor to be reappointed to the position every six years.
The Deputy Assessor also must pass a state examination as well as successfully complete 90 hours of classroom instruction of which at least 60 hours are tested.
The Conference Board approves the Assessor's budget and after a public hearing acts on adoption of same. The Assessor is constrained by statute to a levy limitation for the budget. The limit depends on the value of the jurisdiction.
Market value of a property is an estimate of the price that it would sell for on the open market on the first day of January of the year of assessment. This is sometimes referred to as the "arms length transaction" or "willing buyer/willing seller" concept.
To estimate the market value of your property, the Assessor generally uses three approaches.
The first approach is to find properties that are comparable to yours which have sold recently. Local conditions peculiar to your property are taken into consideration. The Assessor also uses sales ratio studies to determine the general level of assessment in a community in order to adjust for local conditions. This method is generally referred to as the MARKET APPROACH and is usually considered the most important in determining the value of residential property.
The second approach is the COST APPROACH and is an estimate of how many dollars at current labor and material prices it would take to replace your property with one similar to it. In the event improvement is not new, appropriate amounts for depreciation and obsolescence are deducted from replacement value. Value of the land is added to arrive at an estimate of the total property value.
The INCOME APPROACH is the third method. It is used if your property produces income such as an apartment or office building. In that case, your property could be valued according to its ability to produce income under prudent management. In other words, the amount another investor would give for your property in order to gain its income. The income approach is the most complex of the three approaches because of the research, information and analysis necessary for an accurate estimate of value. This method requires thorough knowledge of local and national financial conditions, as well as any developmental trends in the area of the subject property being appraised since errors or inaccurate information can seriously affect the final estimate of value.
State law requires that all real property be reassessed every two years. The current law requires the reassessment to occur in odd numbered years. Changes in market value as indicated by research, sales ratio studies and analysis of local conditions as well as economic trends both in and outside the construction industry are used in determining your assessment.
If you disagree with the Assessor's estimate of value, please consider these two questions:
If you have any questions about the assessment of your property, feel free to come in and discuss it with the Assessor.
You may file a written protest with the Board of Review, which is composed of three or five members from various areas of the assessing jurisdiction. The Board operates independently of the Assessor's office, and has the power to confirm or to adjust upward or downward any assessment.
If you are not satisfied with the decision of the Board of Review you may appeal to district court within twenty days after adjournment of said Board, or twenty days after May 31st, whichever is the latest.
There are a number of different taxing districts in a jurisdiction, each with a different levy.
Each year the County Auditor determines for that district a levy that will yield enough money to pay for schools, police and fire protection, road maintenance and other services budgeted for in the area. The tax levy is applied to each $1,000 of a property's taxable value.
The value determined by the assessor is the assessed value and is the value indicated on the assessment roll.
The taxable value is the value determined by the auditor after application of state ordered "rollback" percentages for the various classes of property and is the value indicated on the tax statement.
When comparing the value of your property with other properties always compare with the value on the assessment roll or the assessor's property record cards and not the value indicated on the tax statement.
Iowa law provides for a number of exemptions and credits, including Homestead Credit and Military Exemption.
It is the property owner's responsibility to apply for these as provided by law.
Homestead Tax Credit-All home owners in the State of Iowa, who reside upon their homestead and fulfills the other requirements of the Law, are entitled to a homestead tax credit upon that property. New applications for homestead credits are to be filed with the assessor on or before July 1 following the purchase of a home. This is a one-time signup. The Homestead Tax Credit remains in effect until the homeowner sells or moves off of the property. (See Code of Iowa, Chapter 425) If the property you were occupying as a homestead is sold, or if you cease to use the property as a homestead, you are required to report this to the Assessor in whose jurisdiction the property is located.
Military Service Exemption-Veterans honorably discharged from active duty who served during a time of war in the Armed Forces of the United States are eligible for a tax exemption of $2,778 (for WWI veterans) or $1852 (all other wars) if they live in Iowa. As with the Homestead Tax Credit, this is a one-time signup and remains in effect until the land is sold. (See Code of Iowa, Chapter 427.3 - 427.7)
Family Farm Tax Credit--This is a tax credit on agricultural tracts of land over 10 acres that are farmed by the owner or immediate family member to the 3rd degree of consanguinity (this includes brothers/sisters, sons/daughters, grandchildren, great grandchildren, uncles/aunts and nephews/nieces). There is an annual signup period for this credit from July 1 to October 15 of each year. (See Code of Iowa, Chapter 425A)
Other tax credit/exemptions--The Assessor's office also handles Fruit & Forest Reservations, Impoundment Structures, Native Prairie and Wetlands, Low-Income Rent Reimbursement, Industrial Exemptions and several other programs. (See Code of Iowa, Chapter 427)
January 1 - Effective date of current assessment.
Protest of assessment period for filing with the local Board of Review.April 16 thru May 5 inclusive -
Board of Review meets each year.May 1 thru adjournment -
Period for filing for Homestead Credit and Military Exemption. One time filing is provided, by statute, unless the property owner is (1) filing for Military or Homestead Credit the first time; (2) has purchased a new or used home and is occupying the property as a homestead as of July 1st; or (3) owner was using as a homestead but did not previously file.By July 1 -
October 16 thru October 25 inclusive - Protest period for filing with Board of Review on those properties affected by changes in value as a result of the Director of Revenue and Finance Equalization Orders (odd numbered years.)
Filing is required on the following, if provisions have been made for exemptions as required:
| Annual Family Farm Credit Fruit Tree Reservations Impoundment Structures Native Prairies Open Prairies Forest Cover River and Stream Banks Recreational Lake Wetlands Disabled Veterans Homestead |
Permanent Forest Reservations Pollution Control Wildlife Habitat Other |
| Example: | |
$100,000 |
1998 Assessed value (residential class) |
x 0.564789 |
Roll back percentage (1998) |
56,479 |
Roll back value (taxable) |
- 4,850 |
Homestead Credit |
51,629 |
Net taxable value |
x 0.03735366 |
Levy $37.35366 per thousand (varies with taxing district) |
$1,922 |
Property tax (rounded to nearest even dollar) |
On values determined as of January 1st, one does not start to pay taxes until eighteen months later.
The "roll back" is the percentage of actual value that is determined by the Director of Revenue and Finance each year on the several classes of property where the total value increase STATEWIDE, exceeds four percent for each class of property. The percentage so determined by the Director of Revenue and Finance is certified to and applied by the local county auditor to all property in each class affected throughout the State. Percentages determined by the Director of Revenue and Finance are the same for all the assessing jurisdictions in the state.
Increases in assessed value of individual parcels of property as determined by the Assessor, may exceed four percent within a jurisdiction.
Agricultural property, except agricultural dwellings, are assessed on the basis of productivity and net earning capacity using a five-year crop average and capitalized at a rate set by the Legislature. The rate is currently seven percent. Tentative and final equalization orders are issued by the Director of Revenue and Finance in odd numbered years on or about August 15th, and October 1st respectively. The orders are sent to the various county auditors who apply them to the classes of property affected, if any.
If you desire further information, questions concerning PROPERTY VALUES or other information relating thereto should be addressed to the Assessor's office in the respective jurisdiction and not the Board of Supervisors or Treasurer.
CRAWFORD COUNTY ASSESSOR’S OFFICEQuestions relating to TAXES should be addressed to the local county treasurer.
1202 Broadway ~ Denison, IA 51442
Phone (712) 263-3447 Fax (712) 263-8668