MARC JACOBS
Hutch Post
Reno County Appraiser Michael Plank said annual change-of-value notices will be mailed Friday, with delivery expected midweek.
“The mail date is tomorrow, so they’ll go into the mail tomorrow,” Plank said during an interview Thursday morning on the BW Morning Show. “Folks probably won’t see them until Tuesday or Wednesday next week.”
The notices are required by state law and inform property owners of their property’s appraised value for the upcoming tax year.
Understanding the numbers
Plank said one of the most common questions involves the two values listed on the notice: appraised value and assessed value.
“There should be the appraised value, and also what’s called the assessed value,” Plank said. “For residential property, your assessed value is just 11.5% of your appraised value. If you take your appraised value and multiply it by 11.5%, it should equal that assessed value on the notice.”
The assessed value is set by statute and used to calculate property taxes.
However, Plank emphasized that the notice does not show what a property owner’s tax bill will be.
“It’s not just the county commission,” he said. “It’s whatever entities have taxing authority over you — the school district, the city, fire district. They set their budgets over the summer, and that eventually determines your mill levy and your resulting property tax.”
Market-driven valuations
Kansas is an annual market-value state, meaning all property — except agricultural land valued by a state formula — is reappraised each year at fair market value as of Jan. 1.
“The way state law is written, it’s what could it sell for as of January 1,” Plank said. “Could I sell my property at or above this amount this year? If the answer is no, then take advantage of the appeal process.”
The Reno County Appraiser’s Office reviews three years of sales data when determining residential values.
“We look at the last three years of sales, and we’re limited by the available sales,” Plank said. “If it hasn’t sold in that timeframe, it’s not a comparable.”
Typically, five comparable properties are used to help determine a value. Ideally, those homes are in the same general area and similar in size, age and features, though that is not always possible.
“If there’s a comp on there that you really don’t like, we have the ability to change that out and test other comps,” Plank said. “We don’t have a problem researching that and trying to find something that might be better.”
Even if a homeowner has made no changes to their property, values can still increase due to broader market trends.
“The market around you is constantly changing,” Plank said. “Since 2008 or 2009, statewide, all we’ve seen in real estate is an upward trend.”