Blaze Wurr, the Marshall County Assessor, said during a recent interview that he expects valuations of residential properties in the county to increase by an average of about 18 or 19 percent once the current round of assessments is complete.

In turn, the valuation affects tax rates and the potential resale value of each home, especially as the real estate market has seen skyrocketing home prices over the last year or so. Because the assessor’s office does not handle taxation, Wurr said it was hard to predict how it might be affected, but he said current levy rates could be utilized to help individuals start estimating their taxes before they come due.

He also encouraged those curious about tax rates through various public entities — the city, county and school districts, to name a few — to attend their budget hearings and follow their public notices as they are posted both in local newspapers and online.

On the commercial property side, Wurr expects valuations to jump by 16 or 17 percent.

“We’ve kind of been consistently low on commercial, so we’re trying to get those all corrected and upped,” he said. “The code states that we have to operate at 95 to 105 of market value, and if we’re not in that range and we don’t do these increases ourselves, the state will do something called an equalization (where) the state will actually equalize us up 100 percent or down 100 percent depending where we’re at on the range.”

Assessed valuations are determined using a variety of factors including land values, measurements and square footage, quality of building materials, general conditions and certain features like finished basements, porches, decks, fireplaces and bathrooms. Of course, the real estate market also plays a major role, especially with the fluctuations of the last few years.

“The more we have that accurate data, the better it’s going to help in assessment processes,” Wurr said. “Assessed values are based off of the market. We are always reacting to the market. We are not proactive. We always react.”

Not having all of the information updated with the assessor’s office, he added, can create major problems for homeowners seeking an insurance payout for something like storm damage, which has been common in Marshall County over the last few years.

“I just wanted to get that out there too because that is starting to become a thing that you’re seeing more with all of the storms we’ve been having,” Wurr said.

While assessed valuation and taxation tend to run on what Wurr called an “18-month cycle” — property owners are paying 2021 taxes, the auditor and recorder’s office is in 2022 and the assessor’s office is in fiscal year 2023 — it helps to stay ahead and aware of which way trends might be moving.

Rural residential properties, he concluded, are probably likely to see the biggest jump in valuation as they have been historically “under-assessed,” according to Wurr.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.