Attention Phelps County Property Owners:
- As Assessor, it is my desire to ensure that the real estate assessed values in this
County never get as far behind as they were (in 2005-2006) as compared to what property is actually selling for.
It is my opinion that it is not fair to the property owners of Phelps County to face huge
reassessment increases like the adjustments that were made in 2007. The Assessor's job, every two years,
is to adjust and equalize the County assessed values to reflect true value in money, or market value.
Therefore, I believe it is more fair and understandable to the taxpayers to make these adjustments on
a regular basis (every two years, as the law requires), so that the adjustments being made are truly
a reflection of how the market values have actually changed in the time period being reflected. Market value
is determined by analyzing the actual sales prices of property in Phelps County. The Assessor's office
analyzes what property is selling for on a quarterly basis each year in addition to a few specialized
studies conducted to determine adjustment factors and indicated depreciation (based on age). By using
the three appraisal approaches to value (cost, income, and market approach) in conjunction with the
mass appraisal techniques promoted by the State Tax Commission and the International Association
of Assessing Officers (IAAO), the Assessor is able to estimate the true value in money for the thousands of
real estate properties in Phelps County.
- Unless, new construction or improvements have been made to a property, taxpayers
will not see a change in their real estate assessed value until 2009, which is the
next reassessment year. For now, the 2007 assessed value will also be the 2008 assessed
value, subject to new construction or improvements being made during 2007. Taxpayers who
wish to appeal their 2008 assessed value to the 2008 Board of Equalizations may do so in May
and June until the Board adjourns in July 2008.
- As many of you are aware, the national news media has reported that real estate values around the
nation have decreased, new housing starts are down, bankruptcy filings have increased, the
median price that a house sells for is down, and the length of time to sell on the market has
increased, just to mention a few reports.
With the 2009 reassessment on the horizon, I want to assure property owners that
the assessors office is aware of these situations, that any changes in assessed value for 2009, if any,
will be based on what property has actually been selling for in Phelps County. We will carefully analyze
our local market data and only make changes as necessary.
Phelps County is fortunate in that our local real estate market is much more stable as compared
to other areas of the country. Overall, so far we have not seen the dramatic fluctuations in the selling price of
our homes. Yes, it is true that many of the homes are on the market for a long time prior to selling, and
yes many of them have been on the market for a long time and still remain on the market, yet the selling
price of a home in Phelps County has not taken the hit that other markets have around the nation. In that
most Phelps County property owners are very fortunate; their real estate investments are intact.
2007-2008 reassessment values turned over to County.
- The assessed values produced from the 2007 reassessment were turned
over to the County in June 2007. The County values should now be in compliance with State
law and should satisfy the State Tax Commission's order to the County for the County
values to accurately reflect market value as of January 1, 2007. The State Tax Commission
(STC), the oversight agency of assessors and assessments in Missouri, is conducting
ratio studies to determine if Phelps County's assessment levels are within required
limits of assessment and will examine the uniformity of the assessments. To accomplish this,
the STC will appraise properties within the residential and commercial subclasses and then
compare the County's assessed values to these appraised values to find the level of
assessment that has been acheived. The level of assessment is supposed to be 19% for
residential and 32% for commercial. The 2005-2006 values put on the books by the previous
assessor were found by the STC to be 15.08% for residential and 24.21% for commercial.
This low level of assessment was the result of a token reassessment being done in 2005,
reassesment not being done in 2003, and increased property resale value growth occuring in
2004-2005-2006 just prior to the 2007 reassessment. These factors help explain the
large increases in assessed values experienced by Phelps County taxpayers for 2007.
- The 2007 County Board of Equalization hearings
convened July 9 and were concluded August 7, 2007. From of these hearings, fourteen Board decisions
were appealed to the State Tax Commission, seven of which were for residential property with the
remaining being commercial property valuation appeals. Six residential appeals were
heard by a State Tax Commission hearing officer on December 12, 2007. The decisions rendered in
these hearings either kept the assessed value the same or increased it. The commercial appeals
will not have decisions rendered until late in 2008 or early in 2009, unless they are settled or
dismissed in the meantime.
- Many of the schools and taxing entities reduced their 2007
tax levies according to State law, with several districts voluntarily reducing levies the
full extent or very nearly so. Real property owners living in these districts found the percentage
of increase in the real estate tax bill from the previous year to be much less than the percentage of
assessed value increase seen with 2007's reassessment. Personal property owners in these districts, who
reported the same vehicles in 2007 that were reported in 2006, should see decreases in
their personal property taxes which will help offset increases in the real estate tax bills. The
roll-backs done by these schools and taxing entities are a good example of how taxpayers are protected
against windfall tax increases during reassessment, particularly considering the magnitude
of this reassessment.
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However, patrons living in school districts where Amendment 2 was invoked saw
little or no relief in their 2007 school taxes. This occured when district's
school boards voluntarily raised their computed tax levy from the decreased levy
amount (due to reassessment) back up to the $2.75 minimum operating levy allowed by law.
Even though law approved by voters allows these districts to do this,
it is still a voluntary action by a school board to insist on maintaining the $2.75
tax levy when their tax rate ceiling is less than the $2.75 minimum. The net result of this
is a school district potentially gains a legal windfall at the expense of their patrons, even though
State law indicates the intent is that schools should only be taking in substantially
the same taxation revenue as received in the prior year. In other words, it was within
these school district's boards ability to extend tax relief to their patrons during
reassessment and they chose not to do so.
Phelps County Courthouse
Kevin D. Rasmussen, Assessor
200 N Main St Suite 126
Rolla Missouri 65401-3070
TEL 573.458.6135
FAX 573.458.6149
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