SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
March 1, 2018
Sullivan’s
Salvos 3/6/18
In this edition:
*Aging Specialist
*Conference Boards
*Property Assessment Appeals Board
*Did You Know?
*Aging Specialist
Johnson County has hired an Aging
Specialist to serve as a resource for the growing population of older adults in
the County.
Jeff Kellbach was hired for the
position in the Johnson County Social Services department. The position is a
new one for Johnson County, where persons 65 and older is the fastest growing
demographic.
In his role, Kellbach will provide
outreach, information, education and referral services to older adults, family
members, service providers and organizations, and caregivers. He will assist
individuals and family members with navigating social and community services,
and will develop and implement plans that identify and meet the needs of older
adults in the County.
Kellbach has nearly 20 years of
experience working with older adults. He served as Executive Director of
Pathways Adult Day Health Center from 2001 to 2017. He was a member of the
Johnson County Livable Community for Successful Aging Policy Board from 2012 to
2017, serving as chairperson in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s degree in
therapeutic recreation from the University of Iowa.
I
am very proud of the work Johnson County has done on behalf the seniors in our
community. I would argue that no other county in the state has dedicated this
type of resources to helping our seniors. This is just one more positive!
*Conference Boards
The
City and County Conference Boards met recently to discuss the performances and
budgets of the Iowa City and Johnson County Assessors.
Assessors
are the folks who determine the value of all our taxable real estate. Every
county has an Assessor; so do several of the larger cities. In some areas,
notably Des Moines/Polk County and Waterloo/Black Hawk County, the City
Assessor’s Office has been absorbed by the County Assessor’s Office.
The Iowa City Assessor handles all the property inside Iowa City
proper; the Johnson County Assessor does everything else. The IC Assessor is
responsible for about $5.5 billion in appraised value; the JC Assessor is
responsible for about $8 billion. Both serve about 75,000 residents.
Houses, businesses, farms and the like all go up and down in
value. Because Johnson County has historically been viewed as a very good place
to live, property values here have gone up steadily. While property values
across the country crashed as the housing bubble broke, property values in
Johnson County have remained fairly flat.
Property
tax-levying governmental units (county, cities, schools) are represented on the
Conference Boards. So the IC Assessor’s Office is overseen by Johnson County,
Iowa City, and the ICCSD. The JC Assessor’s Office is overseen by Johnson
County, ten cities (all but IC), and ten school districts (including the
ICCSD).
Now for some very good news: Assessors are measured
for accuracy and ranked every year. The IC Assessor’s Office ranked #1 in the
state out of about 115 offices. The JC Assessor’s Office ranked #2. That is
correct – Iowa City was number one, and Johnson County was number two! In all
my years as a Supervisor, they Johnson County has finished number 1 five times,
number 2 five times, and number 3 three times.
In addition to being number one as a simple matter of pride, we
should be extremely pleased by these results. This means that property tax
payers are likely paying their fair share. You are not likely paying too much,
nor are you paying too little, relative to all property tax payers. That is a
very good thing.
We are being well served by our Assessors. Congratulations to Iowa
City Assessor Brad Comer, Johnson County Assessor Tom VanBuer, and all their
employees on these tremendous accomplishments!
*Property Assessment Appeals Board
State
government is often guilty of “fixing” things that are not broken. One such
example is the Property Assessment Appeals Board (PAAB).
As
we just discussed: local governments (county, city, school) operate primarily
on property taxes. In order to know how much each property should be charged,
the property must be periodically assessed.
Here
in Johnson County, we are home to the very best Assessor’s Offices in the state
of Iowa! According to the Iowa Finance Authority, Iowa City and Johnson County
rank number one and two in Iowa in terms of the accuracy of their assessments.
And they finish near the top every year.
Why
does this matter? Because when it comes to taxes, fairness is paramount. People
need to be assured that both they and their neighbors are paying their fair shares
of taxes. In Johnson County, we can prove that statistically.
When
a property owner disagrees with her assessment, she can appeal the assessment
to the Board of Review. The Board of Review is a three-member panel of local
experts who review the available data, hear both sides of the issue, and set
the correct valuation.
Not
many cases go to the Board of Review; out of the tens of thousands of
properties that get assessed, only a couple dozen go to the Board of Review. If
a property owner is not satisfied with the decision of the Board of Review, her
final appeal was to District Court.
At
least, that WAS the system, until a few years ago, when the State of Iowa
created a PAAB. The PAAB has been a fiasco for many reasons. Here are a few:
For
starters, the PAAB consists of people who sit in Des Moines. They never visit
the property, and they see the same info the local experts get to see. Doesn’t
it make sense that realtor and banker from Johnson County would know Lone Tree
better than a realtor and banker from Des Moines?
Similarly, the system allows the State to “give away” tax revenues
that were intended for local governments. This is no big deal to the state, as
the revenue was never headed their way in the first place. But it has an impact
on local schools, cities, and counties.
Oh, but it gets worse! There is no cost (and therefore no risk) to
folks who appeal. The cost of the PAAB is paid through our state taxes. This
plays into the hands of the anti-government faction that will appeal no matter
what.
The opposite is true for counties, who bear the burden of proof.
There are considerable costs to the counties. Assessors need to spend countless
hours preparing, as do County Attorney’s offices. Yet there is no reimbursement
when they go to the PAAB and win.
This
creates a situation where big corporations appeal every assessment. Several
large corporations (Best Buy, for example) appeal EVERY assessment as a course
of doing business. Many jurisdictions decide to settle rather than fight, so the
PAAB in effect transfers tax dollars from local schools to out of state
corporations!
The
results thus far back this up; it is not the local farmer who appeals to the
PAAB and wins – it is the big box. So, when tax revenues decline, who gets
asked to pay more? The farmer, of course!
Finally, and most importantly, the previous system was not broken!
District Court was the perfect way to decide such disputes – fairer and cheaper
for all taxpayers.
I
hope our Legislators will heed the advice of County Assessors, and eliminate
the PAAB.
*DID YOU KNOW?
Coral Ridge Mall is the property in Johnson County with the highest
value, at just under $127,000,000. (That does not include any University of
Iowa buildings, which are tax exempt and therefore not assessed.)
Anyone
interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the
County website-
"Sullivan’s
Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a
brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
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come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the
whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise
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serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 12:30 PM
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