Bremer County Property Owner:                                  

The following explanation is to alleviate confusion regarding current 2023 assessment notice(s) you are receiving and the reappraisal project currently underway in Bremer County for 2024 assessed valuations. 

Please keep in mind that the assessment notice(s) that you are receiving today is your 2023 assessed value. Your 2023 assessed value is the result of market sales and conditions since January 1, 2021. This valuation change is unrelated to the ongoing reappraisal project the Bremer County Assessor’s Office and Vanguard Appraisals is working on for 2024 assessed values. Results from the ongoing reappraisal project will be reflected on your assessed value notice(s) that you will receive early 2024.

Valuations for most properties and classifications saw increases for 2023 assessments. This has occurred throughout the State of Iowa and nationally. Sales ratio studies (commercial and residential) and productivity factors (agricultural) are analyzed by the Bremer County Assessor’s Office and the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR). If assessors would do nothing to valuations, property by class would be adjusted to 100% market or productivity value for all properties (increase or decrease) within a classification by the IDR through the equalization process for a county.

So, will your property taxes change by the same percentage your assessment changed? The example, shown below, will give you an idea of how assessed values, rollbacks, and levy rates are used to calculate property taxes. In the first example, values went up while rollback and levy rates remained the same. The following four examples show other scenarios.  The purpose of this illustration is to demonstrate that the percent of which your assessed value changes does not mean that your property taxes will change at the same percentage. Remember, assessed values are just the basis for which property taxes are calculated. Property tax laws, assessment limitations (rollbacks) and local budgets by taxing bodies (includes but not limited to: school, city, county, assessor, area school)  that provide public services are what determines the amount of property taxes you pay.  Assessors do not look to raise revenues for taxing bodies, do not determine tax rates and do not calculate or collect property taxes.

Therefore, it is unknown exactly how individual property taxes will be impacted with 2023 valuation changes at this time, since rollbacks for each class won’t be determined until fall of 2023 and budget levies will not be determined until early 2024 with tax statements being mailed fall of 2024.

Information on the bottom section of your assessment notice has directions how a valuation petition can be filed. Please visit Bremer County website, Assessor Department for further information https://www.bremercounty.iowa.gov/ and Bremer County Beacon website for property information https://beacon.schneidercorp.com/.

Regards,

Aaron V. Betts, ICA

Bremer County Assessor