The Washington County Assessor’s office has reviewed all assessed property values in Washington County and will be submitting the abstract of assessment to the state Department of Revenue in June. The new assessed values become effective July 1, 2021.  

The new property values were mailed to property owners by April 1 and property owners had until May 1 to file appeals of those values to the Board of Review, which had until May 31 to review and adjust.

County Assessor Christy Tinnes reported that the average assessment in property values by class were:

• Residential: 7%

• Commercial: 7%

• Multi-residential: 8%

• Agricultural: 3%

Tinnes noted that residential and commercial sales continue to increase overall.

“The market is very strong, and properties are selling very quickly,” she said. 

Realtor Hayley Hershberger of Kalona Realty confirmed that houses are selling very quickly, providing that the price and location are good. She said some properties sell the day they are listed.

There were 11 property owners who filed 24 appeals to the Board of Review, according to Tinnes. That included four commercial, two industrial, 10 agricultural, four residential, three multi-residential and one dual class (commercial and multi-residential) property owners.

The Board of Review has made decisions on the appeals and has mailed notices to those who appealed.

Tinnes said the Assessor’s office does an evaluation of every parcel of property in the county every two years, on the odd number year.

“We will find out in October if the state will issue equalizations for the county,” Tinnes said. 

The Iowa Department of Revenue is responsible for “equalization” assessments every two years. The department compares the assessors’ abstracts to a “sales assessment ratio study” it has completed independently of the assessors. If all assessments (by property class) are 5% or above or below the sales ratio study, the Department of Revenue increases or decreases the assessment. (There is no sales ratio study for agricultural or industrial property.)

Equalization occurs on an entire class of property, not individual property. Also, equalization occurs on an assessing-jurisdiction basis, not statewide. Equalization is important because it helps maintain equitable assessments among class of property among assessing jurisdictions. This contributes to a fairer distribution of state aid, such as aid to schools.

Residential Assessed values

The assessor completed the assessed valuations of all property. Following are some comparisons by cities in Washington County:

Kalona residential properties including lot and buildings: $161,660,500 in 2020; increased to $168,403,200 in 2021. This includes 882 dwellings, up 1.

Wellman residential lots and dwellings: $67,789,100 in 2020; increased to $75,609,000 in 2021; 543 dwellings, up 2.

Riverside residential lots and dwellings: $64,414,800 in 2020; increased to $66,988,200 in 2021; 432 dwellings, up 1.

Washington residential lots and dwellings: $308,745,500 in 2020; increased to $325,568,000 in 2021; 2714 dwellings, down 8.

Ainsworth residential lots and dwellings: $15,452,600 in 2020; decreased to $14,567,900 in 2021 with 165 dwellings both years. 

All cities total: $647,978,600 in 2020; $682,218,500 in 2021 with 5,164 homes, down 4.

County totals including rural and city lots and homes, $1,044,861,300 in 2020; $1,111,457,600 in 2021 with 6,938 homes, up 7.

Commercial Properties

Value of commercial lots and buildings in Kalona: $25,470,040 in 2020; $27,155,572 in 2021 with 119 properties, up 6.

Values of commercial lots and buildings in Wellman: $6,756,714 in 2020; 6,902,408 in 2021 with 62 properties, up 1. 

Commercial values in Riverside: $79,926,509 in 2020; $82,900,562 in 2021 with 29 properties (including Riverside Casino), up 2.

Commercial values in Washington: $69,087,789 in 2020; $75,642,367 in 2021 with 221 properties, down 2.

Total commercial values of all cities in the county were $186,256,936 in 2020; $197,755,900 in 2021 with 488 commercial properties, up 7.

Total commercial values in cities and rural combined was $215,519,675 in 2020; $231,085,796 in 2021 with 565 properties, up 7.

Agricultural properties

Agricultural realty not including dwellings in Washington county, city and rural, was valued at $442,415,000 in 2020; $456,608,100 in 2021.

Value of residential homes on agricultural realty was $204,415,700 in 2020; $221,383,400 in 2021 with 1,519 dwellings, up from 1,498 in 2020.

Multi-residential properties

The value of multi-residential dwellings and lots were:

• Kalona: $5,839,960 in 2020; $6,174,128 in 2021 with 12 units.

• Wellman: $4,163,086 in 2020; $4,089,692 in 2021, with 7 units.

• Riverside: $1,444,991 in 2020; $1,596,138 in 2021 with 5 units.

• Washington: $13,628,411 in 2020; $15,134,433 in 2021 with 50 units. 

• Countywide: $28,084,875 in 2020; $30,338,129 in 2021 with 88 units.