*** PRESS RELEASE ***
The Guthrie County Assessor’s office is announcing that door-to-door inspections of all residential and agricultural dwelling properties (excluding Lake Panorama) in Guthrie County will begin approximately July 1, 2023.
A reappraisal project was approved by the Guthrie County Conference Board in February, 2019. The last door-to-door reappraisal of residential property in Guthrie County was completed in 1999 (Lake Panorama was completed in 2017). The Iowa Department of Revenue recommends having a complete revaluation every 10 years.
Periodic inspections and reappraisals are necessary to update information and adjust for market conditions which affect property values. Some properties physically deteriorate faster than others and many have had improvements made that we may be unaware of, such as interior remodeling. Also, properties in different areas of the county will differ in value due to economic factors. Please keep in mind that the purpose of a reappraisal is not to increase assessed value but to establish equitable assessments that represent the market value of each specific parcel and to acquire accurate information.
Representatives of Vanguard Appraisals, Inc. in conjunction with the Guthrie County Assessor’s Office will be conducting this project.
All law enforcement agencies as well as the Guthrie County Assessor’s Office will be apprised of the areas where data collectors are working. They will also have a listing of names and license plate numbers of anyone involved in the project.
Data collectors with photo IDs signed by the assessor, will attempt to perform interior and exterior inspections of all residential and agricultural dwelling properties. They will be compiling information to be used to estimate the fair market value of each property. Information to be collected includes type of construction, type of interior finish, physical condition of the property, age of structures and exterior measurements. A complete sales analysis, local construction costs, and economic conditions are also considered. No estimate of value will be given at the time of inspection.
Property owners are asked to cooperate by allowing a complete inspection of their property and providing accurate information so that a fair and equitable assessment may be determined for each property.
The preliminary data collection process will begin in July, 2023. The project is scheduled for completion December 31st, 2024.
Notice of final value estimates will be mailed to each property owner after January 1, 2025. The property owners will have an opportunity to meet informally to discuss their revaluation in the spring of 2025.
The new assessed values will be effective for January 1, 2025 for taxes payable in fiscal year 2026/2027.
If any property owner has questions regarding the reappraisal project, they are urged to contact the Guthrie County Assessor’s office at 641-747-3319 or email: [email protected] Additional information on the community that the data collectors are currently visiting will be located on the Assessor’s page of the Guthrie County website at https://guthriecounty.gov/government/county-offices/assessor