York County Press Release
YORK – Sarah Scott, the Nebraska Department of Revenue property tax administrator, says York County property owners will see major increases in their valuations next year.
And those increases will likely be hefty.
Earlier this year, the owners of thousands of properties in York County (in certain locations) were shocked to see their valuations vastly increase, even double, after an updated model/system was used to calculate a portion of parcels in the county (while others were calculated with the older model). The model is the software used to determine valuations based on fair market value.
One problem was that it had been 10 years since the model was updated so instead of seeing gradual increases over the years, many property owners saw substantial jumps all at once, without warning.
At that point, the York County Commissioners were tasked with equalization. Amid the confusion over the jumps and attempts by the county assessor to seek help from state agencies, it was decided by the county board they would revert thousands of parcels back to their valuations from last year rather than see the huge increases take place this year.
But Scott said this week, as she met with the county commissioners, that fix for 2024 wasn’t necessarily “in accordance with state statute” and those major, eye-popping increases seen earlier this year will just come back next year.
“We are here to discuss the board’s earlier action to roll back assessments,” Scott told the commissioners. “We have a concern it wasn’t done in accordance with the statutes. Our review indicated this was done with just one motion, and it affected a large volume of properties. We have been working with Kurt (Assessor Bulgrin), and yes, you had problems. We have been trying to look at this very closely. Due to the action taken, we had to measure the impact.”
Scott said when she was first contacted by Bulgrin regarding the sudden jumps in valuation calculations, her agency recommended reverting back 1,224 parcels. “But 2,586 parcels were reverted back by the county board. So we had to review the impact of that.”
The county is required to have residential property values within the range of 92-100% of fair market value. But Scott says her agency has determined that by the board reverting back 2,586 parcels, the county is in the range of 84%, “so it is outside of what is called for by state law.”
“At the time this happened, there was no good remedy and you were faced with a real problem,” Scott said to the board members. “It’s my duty to look at this. This won’t have a fiscal impact on your school districts as they don’t receive equalization aid. But, if they did receive equalization aid this would have had a negative effect on them. 2024 is done but it needs to be looked at as to how to fix this in 2025.
“You did have a real problem, but I feel there were better options available to you,” Scott continued. “I am here to ask you what we could have done differently; we want to hear from you.”
“If the recommendation from you had taken place, would we have hit the 92-100% range?” asked Commissioner Chairman Randy Obermier.
“Yes,” Scott responded.
“We were being blasted with calls from people whose values suddenly doubled,” Obermier said. “We petitioned TERC (Tax Equalization Review Commission), but they wouldn’t take up anything until who knows when, so we had to do something. Everyone has been warned that moving forward, valuation increases will happen.”
“A lot of protests were about violent swings in valuations, and I wasn’t getting any answers, so I felt we needed to take a step back,” said Commissioner Andy Bowman. “That moved me to make my vote. We had no answers regarding the anomalies and the values because, parcel to parcel, they were so out of whack. Something was truly wrong in our system.”
“I’m not here to sit in judgment of you,” Scott said. “I appreciate the situation you were in.”
“We switched systems, and Kurt (Bulgrin) tried many times to find out how to fix this, and his calls weren’t being answered,” said Commissioner LeRoy Ott. “We had a time crunch on us and we didn’t feel it was right to punish a quarter of the county because we had problems in our systems.”
Scott said she presented options to the county in mid-July to “create a resolution, to petition TERC or for Kurt to create a list of 1,224 parcels to bring those values down.”
“When we were trying to figure out how to remedy this, there was such a major increase in the valuation of a number of parcels, we would not have been equal to everyone,” said Commissioner Daniel Grotz, “so it looked like the only way to be equal was to revert back all of these. Is it fair to punish this side of the street and not this side in order to get to the 92%?”
“You are transitioning to an entire assessment process, not just a system, and we are here to figure out how to make the process better for you,” Scott said.
“How can we justify to constituents that – using the street analogy again – that the even-numbered houses went up 100% and the houses across the street didn’t go up at all?” Grotz asked.
“The only legitimate way to explain this is to use the sales/comparable sales information,” Scott said. “That’s the information you need to have. You need to have good data.”
“During this process, another thing which came up was that previously unusable ag buildings were suddenly being put back on the property schedules,” Bowman said.
Scott said the updated software/systems might bring those values up; it would need to be looked at and could be adjusted by the assessor’s office.
“OK, the question is, how do we move forward?” asked Obermier.
“The first thing is for Kurt (Assessor Bulgrin) to finish the revaluation so all of them are (being calculated) on the same manual,” Scott said.
“You will see very significant increases. We need to develop some county procedures and a process for handling all the protests. One option is to hire referees which would be appraisers to evaluate the protests and determine if there are equalization issues. You will need extensive information and data to evaluate protests.”
“Can we, as the board of equalization, address protests as soon as they come in?” asked Obermier.
Scott said yes, and the assessor’s office can have informal protest conversations before formal protests go before the board of equalization.
“His office has done that in the past; they have sat down with property owners,” Obermier said.
“If we are using a system that’s only updated every 10 years, then are we using the right system?” Bowman asked.
“So, in coming up with a remedy, will the state issue an action plan for us or do we need to come up with one?” Obermier asked.
“We can take either approach,” Scott said. “We can work together. You could have a committee to work with us and then we can come up with a recommendation.”
The commissioners agreed two of them will work with Scott’s office and the assessor’s office to come up with a plan forward, before next year.
“I think to have a remedy plan by the end of the year or in January would be appropriate,” Scott said.
“Well, the sentiment of this board is to get it right,” Obermier said.
