Property Tax Experts
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For taxpayers who may
be experiencing difficulty
in paying their property
taxes, there may be help.
Most cities in the United
States have Property Tax
Poverty Exemption Policy
and Guidelines. You may
be eligible to waive your
annual property tax for
one year read more
be experiencing difficulty
in paying their property
taxes, there may be help.
Most cities in the United
States have Property Tax
Poverty Exemption Policy
and Guidelines. You may
be eligible to waive your
annual property tax for
one year read more
Property taxes are not determined by a single individual who assesses
your property and sends you a bill. The final tax rate is the result of
budgets established to provide services, an assessor’s assessment, a
county auditor’s calculations, and laws administered by the Iowa
Department of Revenue.
Because property assessment involves a series of events that takes 18
months from start to finish, this page will not be able to answer all your
questions. It should, however, be able to explain the basic principles and
events involved in calculating the property tax rate.
What is the Iowa property tax?
The Iowa property tax is primarily a tax on "real property," which is mostly
land, buildings, structures, and other improvements that are constructed
on or in the land, attached to the land, or placed upon a foundation.
Typical improvements include a building, house or mobile home, fences,
and paving.
The following five classes of real property are evaluated:
residential
agricultural
commercial
industrial
utilities/railroad [This class is assessed at the state level.]
Who pays property tax?
Home owners pay 47 percent of the property tax collected each year in
Iowa. Farmers pay 16 percent, and businesses and industry, a total of 34
percent. Utility companies, including railroads, pay 3 percent. The
miscellaneous category pays less than 1 percent.
How often is property assessed?
State law requires that all real property be assessed every two years in
odd-numbered years. Railroads and public utilities, which are assessed
by the Iowa Department of Revenue , are assessed every year.
Which governments collect property taxes?
Property tax supports many different "taxing authorities." Cities, counties,
school districts, and townships are the most common. Taxing authorities
may also include community college districts, agricultural extension
districts, assessor offices, hospital districts and sanitation districts. In
addition, there are associations for fire protection, drainage, and other
public needs that levy taxes.
Iowa has more than 2,000 taxing authorities. Most property is taxed by
more than one taxing authority.
How is the rate of the property tax determined?
The value of property is established.
The assessor (or the Iowa Department of Revenue) estimates the value of
each property. This is called the "assessed value."
The assessments of all taxable properties are added together.
The assessor totals the assessed value in each classification and reports
it to the county auditor.
The State examines total assessed values and equalizes them.
Each assessor sends the reports, called "abstracts," to the Iowa
Department of Revenue . The abstract shows the total taxable values of
all real property in each jurisdiction by classification of property, not by
individual property.
A process called "equalization" is applied every two years to ensure that
property values are comparable among jurisdictions and according to law.
In addition, the "assessment limitation" is applied every year. This process
is commonly called "rollback" and is used in response to inflation.
Budgets are established.
Each taxing authority determines its own budget. The budget includes the
cost of providing services, the amount of aid received from the federal
and state governments, the amount of money remaining from previous
years, and revenue from other charges for services.
Each approved budget is submitted to the county auditor.
A tax rate is established.
The county auditor divides the amount of the budget that is not funded by
other sources by the taxable value of all the property in the taxing district.
The result is referred to as "dollars per thousand." If the dollars per
thousand were $10, the tax on a home valued at $50,000 would be
calculated at $10 x 50. The tax on that home would be $500 for that single
taxing authority.
Since more than one taxing authority is calculating a tax rate for the
property, all the rates are added together, resulting in a single tax levy
called a consolidated levy. This consolidated levy is always the result of
two or more tax rates established by different government entities.
Credits are subtracted.
Credits such as the Homestead Credit are subtracted before a final tax bill
is sent to the taxpayer.
Before you ever see your tax bill, two additional steps occur to test and
adjust assessments to legal levels.
Equalization
In Step 3 above, the Iowa Department of Revenue is responsible for
"equalizing" assessments every two years. Following is a general
explanation of the purpose of equalization.
The department compares the assessors’ abstracts to a "sales
assessment ratio study" it has completed independently of the assessors.
If the assessment (by property class) is 5 percent or more above or below
the sales ratio study, the department increases or decreases the
assessment. (There is no sales ratio study for agricultural and industrial
property.)
Equalization occurs on an entire class of property, not on an individual
property. Also, equalization occurs on an assessing jurisdiction basis, not
on a statewide basis.
Equalization is important because it helps maintain equitable assessments
among classes of property and among assessing jurisdictions. This
contributes to a more fair distribution of state aid, such as aid to schools.
It also helps to equally distribute the total tax burden within the area.
Rollbacks
Twenty years ago, residential property values were rising quickly. To help
cushion the impact of high inflation, the legislature passed an assessment
limitation law called rollback.
Increases in assessed values for residential and agricultural property are
subject to this assessment limitation formula. If the statewide increase in
values of homes and farms exceeds 4 percent due to revaluation, their
values are "rolled back" so that the total increase statewide is 4 percent.
Rollback is also available for industrial and commercial property when
necessary.
This does not mean that the assessment on your home will increase by
only 4 percent. The rollback is applied on a class of property, not an
individual property. This means that the statewide total taxable value can
increase by only 4 percent due to revaluation.
Property Tax Collections in FY07
An estimated $3,429,496,729 was collected in Iowa in fiscal year 2007.
K-12 Schools: $1,458,545,290
Cities: $999,956,162
Counties: $747,357,128
Hospitals: $72,615,629
Merged Area Schools: $70,325,044
Assessors: $39,478,200
Townships: $20,646,124
Agricultural Extension District: $13,004,489
Miscellaneous: $7,568,663
Assessment Cycle
As stated in the introduction, the assessment cycle is a lengthy one. The
cycle required each time property is assessed is outlined below.
Iowa Property Tax Assessment Cycle 1. January 1 Assessment date
2. April 15 Assessors complete assessments and notify taxpayers.
3. April 16 - May 5 Taxpayers may appeal assessments to local boards of
review.
4. May 1 - May 31 Local boards of review consider appeals. This time may
be extended to July 15 by the Iowa Department of Revenue director.
5. June 15 Local boards of review submit reports to the director.
6. July 1 Assessors submit abstracts of the assessments to the director.
7. August 15 The director issues tentative equalization notices to county
auditors.
8. September The director holds equalization hearings, which are held for
public input.
9. October 1 The director issues final equalization orders to county
auditors.
10. October 2 - 12 Assessing jurisdictions may apply for alternative
methods of implementing equalization orders.
11. October 2 - 15 The county auditor publishes notices of the final
equalization order.
12. Oct. 15- Nov. 15 Local boards of review meet to hear equalization
protests.
13. October 16 - 25 Taxpayers may protest the final equalization order to
local boards of review.
14. November 1 The director certifies assessment limitation percentages
to county auditors.
15. November 15 Local boards of review submit a report about the
equalization protests to the department.
16. Dec. 1 - Feb. 28 The taxing authorities adopt the budgets based on
the valuations.
17. March 1 The county board of supervisors levies the taxes.
18. July 1 The county treasurer receives authorization to collect taxes.
19. September 30 First half of taxes are due.
20. March 31 Second half of taxes are due.
What causes taxes to increase?
Basically, three variables must interact to decrease or increase your
property taxes:
The combined budgets of the taxing authorities
The total value of all the property in the taxing unit
The value of your property
Your taxes increase if...
The budgets increase and the value of all properties remain the same.
The budgets and value of property in the entire government unit remain
the same but the value of the individual’s property increases.
The budgets and value of the individual’s property remain the same but
the value of the property in the entire government unit decreases.
Your taxes decrease if...
The budgets decrease and the values of all properties remain the same.
The budgets and value of property in the entire government unit remain
the same but the value of the individual’s property decreases.
The budgets and value of the individual’s property remain the same but
the value of the property in the entire government unit increases.
Why might you pay higher taxes than your neighbor?
The value of a house depends on land size, square footage, type of
construction, age, quality, location, story height, and condition, but that’s
not all. Your neighbor’s property may be taxed by different taxing districts
than you are. For instance, districts are often divided by highways. If your
neighbor’s property is across the highway, it may be taxed by different
districts than you are.
Also, credits and exemptions such as Homestead, Ag Land, and Military
could make a difference.
What if you disagree with the assessed value of your property?
Property owners who disagree with the assessor’s estimate of the market
value of their property should ask themselves, "Could I sell this property
for that amount today?" If the answer is yes, then the value is probably
correct. However, every property owner has the right to appeal an
assessment.
Property owners may appeal their initial assessments to local boards of
review by filing a written protest between April 16 and May 5 of each year.
These boards meet annually in May to consider the protests.
In a reassessment year a property owner may protest an assessment for
one or more of the following reasons:
The assessment is not comparable to others with similar properties.
The property is assessed at more than its actual value.
The property is exempt from taxation.
There is an error in the assessment.
The assessment is fraudulent.
A property owner may appeal the protest to the property assessment
appeal board, if not satisfied with the board of review's decision. If
dissatisfied with a property assessment appeal board decision, the
decision may then be appealed to the district court. In the alternative,
property owners may still file appeals directly with the district court and
forego filing with the property assessment appeal board . Contact your
assessor's office for more information.
What property is exempt?
Iowa offers a variety of total and partial exemptions and credits to the
property tax. It is the property owner’s (or renter’s) responsibility to apply
for these. Contact your assessor for information on the following:
Agricultural land
Art galleries
Cattle facility
Cemeteries
Disabled veterans homestead
Educational institutions
Family farm credit
Forest cover
Forest reservations
Fruit tree reservations
Governments: state, cities, counties, townships
Historic property rehabilitation
Homestead credit
Impoundment structures
Industrial partial (427B)
Industrial machinery and equipment and computers first assessed in Iowa
for 1995 and thereafter
Libraries/literary societies
Low-income tax credit for elderly, disabled
Low-income rent reimbursement for elderly, disabled
Low-rent housing
Methane gas conversion
Military exemption
Mobile home reduced rate for low income
Native prairies
Open prairies
Personal property
Pollution control and recycling
Public grounds
Recreational lakes
Religious, charitable, benevolent associations
Rivers and streams
River and stream banks
Special assessments for elderly, disabled, low income
Speculative shell buildings
Urban revitalization
War veterans associations
Wetlands
Wildlife habitats
Wind energy conversion
Homestead Credit
The Homestead Credit is available to residential property owners. Iowans
saved almost $103 million in property taxes in fiscal year 2005. The credit
is an actual reduction in the amount of property tax owed; it is not a
refund.
To qualify for the credit, the property owner must be a resident of Iowa
and actually live on the property on July 1 and for at least six months of
every year. The only exceptions are persons in the military and nursing
homes who otherwise qualify.
Sign-up for the credit is at the assessor’s office by July 1 of the year the
credit is first claimed. Once a person qualifies, the credit continues until
the property is sold or until the owner no longer qualifies.
Military Exemption
Military veterans who served on active duty during wartime periods qualify
for this exemption. The veteran must apply with the local assessor; once
accepted, the exemption is ongoing. More than $2.4 million was claimed in
fiscal year 2005.
Ag Land Credit
The Agricultural Land Tax Credit was originally established in 1939 to
help offset higher farm taxes. The credit is available to all owners of
agricultural land of 10 acres or more if the use is for agricultural or
horticultural purposes. Land owners do not actually file a claim. The
county auditor determines the amount of the credit for each taxpayer.
In fiscal year 2005, more than $24 million was credited to agricultural land
owners.
Family Farm Credit
Legislation was enacted in 1990 to provide $10 million for the Family
Farm Tax Credit. The purpose was to give an additional property tax
credit to those individual land owners who were actively engaged in
farming the land. Once signing is required unless ownership or
designated person changes.
Land used for agricultural or horticultural purposes in tracts of 10
contiguous acres or more qualify for this credit. Buildings and other
structures do not. May sign anytime, however, a claim signed after
November 1 is considered as a claim filed for the following year.
Assessors
County and city assessors are not employees of the State or of the Iowa
Department of Revenue.
How many are there?
Counties: Each of Iowa’s 99 counties has one assessor.
Cities: Eight Iowa cities have their own assessors. Any city with a
population of more than 10,000 people may elect to have its own
assessor.
What do they do?
An assessor’s primary duty is to assess all real property, which includes
residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural. (The Iowa Department
of Revenue assesses public utilities and railroads.)
What don’t they do?
Collect taxes
Calculate taxes
Determine the tax rate
How does someone become an assessor?
County assessors are appointed by a conference board composed of the
county board of supervisors, the mayors of all incorporated cities, and a
board member from each school district who lives in the assessor’s
jurisdiction.
City assessors are appointed by a conference board composed of the
county board of supervisors, members of the city council, and all
members of each school board.
Assessors are appointed to six-year terms. To be eligible, they must have
a high school diploma or GED and pass an examination administered by
the Iowa Department of Revenue . To be reappointed, they must
successfully complete a continuing education program equal to 150 hours
of classroom instruction during their six-year terms.
How does an assessor value property?
Residential, commercial and industrial real estate is assessed at 100% of
market value
The assessor must determine the fair market value of the property. To do
this, the assessor generally uses three approaches.
Market Approach: Find properties that are comparable to yours which
have sold recently. Analyze sales of similar properties that were recently
sold. Determine the most probable sales price of the property being
appraised.
Cost Approach: Estimate how much money at current labor and material
prices it would take to replace the property with one similar to it. Useful
when no sales of comparable properties exist.
Income Approach: If the property produces income, such as with an
apartment or office building, estimate its ability to produce income.
Agricultural real estate is assessed at 100% of productivity and net
earning capacity value.
The assessor considers the productivity and net earning capacity of the
property. Agricultural income as reflected by production, prices,
expenses, and various local conditions is taken into account.
your property and sends you a bill. The final tax rate is the result of
budgets established to provide services, an assessor’s assessment, a
county auditor’s calculations, and laws administered by the Iowa
Department of Revenue.
Because property assessment involves a series of events that takes 18
months from start to finish, this page will not be able to answer all your
questions. It should, however, be able to explain the basic principles and
events involved in calculating the property tax rate.
What is the Iowa property tax?
The Iowa property tax is primarily a tax on "real property," which is mostly
land, buildings, structures, and other improvements that are constructed
on or in the land, attached to the land, or placed upon a foundation.
Typical improvements include a building, house or mobile home, fences,
and paving.
The following five classes of real property are evaluated:
residential
agricultural
commercial
industrial
utilities/railroad [This class is assessed at the state level.]
Who pays property tax?
Home owners pay 47 percent of the property tax collected each year in
Iowa. Farmers pay 16 percent, and businesses and industry, a total of 34
percent. Utility companies, including railroads, pay 3 percent. The
miscellaneous category pays less than 1 percent.
How often is property assessed?
State law requires that all real property be assessed every two years in
odd-numbered years. Railroads and public utilities, which are assessed
by the Iowa Department of Revenue , are assessed every year.
Which governments collect property taxes?
Property tax supports many different "taxing authorities." Cities, counties,
school districts, and townships are the most common. Taxing authorities
may also include community college districts, agricultural extension
districts, assessor offices, hospital districts and sanitation districts. In
addition, there are associations for fire protection, drainage, and other
public needs that levy taxes.
Iowa has more than 2,000 taxing authorities. Most property is taxed by
more than one taxing authority.
How is the rate of the property tax determined?
The value of property is established.
The assessor (or the Iowa Department of Revenue) estimates the value of
each property. This is called the "assessed value."
The assessments of all taxable properties are added together.
The assessor totals the assessed value in each classification and reports
it to the county auditor.
The State examines total assessed values and equalizes them.
Each assessor sends the reports, called "abstracts," to the Iowa
Department of Revenue . The abstract shows the total taxable values of
all real property in each jurisdiction by classification of property, not by
individual property.
A process called "equalization" is applied every two years to ensure that
property values are comparable among jurisdictions and according to law.
In addition, the "assessment limitation" is applied every year. This process
is commonly called "rollback" and is used in response to inflation.
Budgets are established.
Each taxing authority determines its own budget. The budget includes the
cost of providing services, the amount of aid received from the federal
and state governments, the amount of money remaining from previous
years, and revenue from other charges for services.
Each approved budget is submitted to the county auditor.
A tax rate is established.
The county auditor divides the amount of the budget that is not funded by
other sources by the taxable value of all the property in the taxing district.
The result is referred to as "dollars per thousand." If the dollars per
thousand were $10, the tax on a home valued at $50,000 would be
calculated at $10 x 50. The tax on that home would be $500 for that single
taxing authority.
Since more than one taxing authority is calculating a tax rate for the
property, all the rates are added together, resulting in a single tax levy
called a consolidated levy. This consolidated levy is always the result of
two or more tax rates established by different government entities.
Credits are subtracted.
Credits such as the Homestead Credit are subtracted before a final tax bill
is sent to the taxpayer.
Before you ever see your tax bill, two additional steps occur to test and
adjust assessments to legal levels.
Equalization
In Step 3 above, the Iowa Department of Revenue is responsible for
"equalizing" assessments every two years. Following is a general
explanation of the purpose of equalization.
The department compares the assessors’ abstracts to a "sales
assessment ratio study" it has completed independently of the assessors.
If the assessment (by property class) is 5 percent or more above or below
the sales ratio study, the department increases or decreases the
assessment. (There is no sales ratio study for agricultural and industrial
property.)
Equalization occurs on an entire class of property, not on an individual
property. Also, equalization occurs on an assessing jurisdiction basis, not
on a statewide basis.
Equalization is important because it helps maintain equitable assessments
among classes of property and among assessing jurisdictions. This
contributes to a more fair distribution of state aid, such as aid to schools.
It also helps to equally distribute the total tax burden within the area.
Rollbacks
Twenty years ago, residential property values were rising quickly. To help
cushion the impact of high inflation, the legislature passed an assessment
limitation law called rollback.
Increases in assessed values for residential and agricultural property are
subject to this assessment limitation formula. If the statewide increase in
values of homes and farms exceeds 4 percent due to revaluation, their
values are "rolled back" so that the total increase statewide is 4 percent.
Rollback is also available for industrial and commercial property when
necessary.
This does not mean that the assessment on your home will increase by
only 4 percent. The rollback is applied on a class of property, not an
individual property. This means that the statewide total taxable value can
increase by only 4 percent due to revaluation.
Property Tax Collections in FY07
An estimated $3,429,496,729 was collected in Iowa in fiscal year 2007.
K-12 Schools: $1,458,545,290
Cities: $999,956,162
Counties: $747,357,128
Hospitals: $72,615,629
Merged Area Schools: $70,325,044
Assessors: $39,478,200
Townships: $20,646,124
Agricultural Extension District: $13,004,489
Miscellaneous: $7,568,663
Assessment Cycle
As stated in the introduction, the assessment cycle is a lengthy one. The
cycle required each time property is assessed is outlined below.
Iowa Property Tax Assessment Cycle 1. January 1 Assessment date
2. April 15 Assessors complete assessments and notify taxpayers.
3. April 16 - May 5 Taxpayers may appeal assessments to local boards of
review.
4. May 1 - May 31 Local boards of review consider appeals. This time may
be extended to July 15 by the Iowa Department of Revenue director.
5. June 15 Local boards of review submit reports to the director.
6. July 1 Assessors submit abstracts of the assessments to the director.
7. August 15 The director issues tentative equalization notices to county
auditors.
8. September The director holds equalization hearings, which are held for
public input.
9. October 1 The director issues final equalization orders to county
auditors.
10. October 2 - 12 Assessing jurisdictions may apply for alternative
methods of implementing equalization orders.
11. October 2 - 15 The county auditor publishes notices of the final
equalization order.
12. Oct. 15- Nov. 15 Local boards of review meet to hear equalization
protests.
13. October 16 - 25 Taxpayers may protest the final equalization order to
local boards of review.
14. November 1 The director certifies assessment limitation percentages
to county auditors.
15. November 15 Local boards of review submit a report about the
equalization protests to the department.
16. Dec. 1 - Feb. 28 The taxing authorities adopt the budgets based on
the valuations.
17. March 1 The county board of supervisors levies the taxes.
18. July 1 The county treasurer receives authorization to collect taxes.
19. September 30 First half of taxes are due.
20. March 31 Second half of taxes are due.
What causes taxes to increase?
Basically, three variables must interact to decrease or increase your
property taxes:
The combined budgets of the taxing authorities
The total value of all the property in the taxing unit
The value of your property
Your taxes increase if...
The budgets increase and the value of all properties remain the same.
The budgets and value of property in the entire government unit remain
the same but the value of the individual’s property increases.
The budgets and value of the individual’s property remain the same but
the value of the property in the entire government unit decreases.
Your taxes decrease if...
The budgets decrease and the values of all properties remain the same.
The budgets and value of property in the entire government unit remain
the same but the value of the individual’s property decreases.
The budgets and value of the individual’s property remain the same but
the value of the property in the entire government unit increases.
Why might you pay higher taxes than your neighbor?
The value of a house depends on land size, square footage, type of
construction, age, quality, location, story height, and condition, but that’s
not all. Your neighbor’s property may be taxed by different taxing districts
than you are. For instance, districts are often divided by highways. If your
neighbor’s property is across the highway, it may be taxed by different
districts than you are.
Also, credits and exemptions such as Homestead, Ag Land, and Military
could make a difference.
What if you disagree with the assessed value of your property?
Property owners who disagree with the assessor’s estimate of the market
value of their property should ask themselves, "Could I sell this property
for that amount today?" If the answer is yes, then the value is probably
correct. However, every property owner has the right to appeal an
assessment.
Property owners may appeal their initial assessments to local boards of
review by filing a written protest between April 16 and May 5 of each year.
These boards meet annually in May to consider the protests.
In a reassessment year a property owner may protest an assessment for
one or more of the following reasons:
The assessment is not comparable to others with similar properties.
The property is assessed at more than its actual value.
The property is exempt from taxation.
There is an error in the assessment.
The assessment is fraudulent.
A property owner may appeal the protest to the property assessment
appeal board, if not satisfied with the board of review's decision. If
dissatisfied with a property assessment appeal board decision, the
decision may then be appealed to the district court. In the alternative,
property owners may still file appeals directly with the district court and
forego filing with the property assessment appeal board . Contact your
assessor's office for more information.
What property is exempt?
Iowa offers a variety of total and partial exemptions and credits to the
property tax. It is the property owner’s (or renter’s) responsibility to apply
for these. Contact your assessor for information on the following:
Agricultural land
Art galleries
Cattle facility
Cemeteries
Disabled veterans homestead
Educational institutions
Family farm credit
Forest cover
Forest reservations
Fruit tree reservations
Governments: state, cities, counties, townships
Historic property rehabilitation
Homestead credit
Impoundment structures
Industrial partial (427B)
Industrial machinery and equipment and computers first assessed in Iowa
for 1995 and thereafter
Libraries/literary societies
Low-income tax credit for elderly, disabled
Low-income rent reimbursement for elderly, disabled
Low-rent housing
Methane gas conversion
Military exemption
Mobile home reduced rate for low income
Native prairies
Open prairies
Personal property
Pollution control and recycling
Public grounds
Recreational lakes
Religious, charitable, benevolent associations
Rivers and streams
River and stream banks
Special assessments for elderly, disabled, low income
Speculative shell buildings
Urban revitalization
War veterans associations
Wetlands
Wildlife habitats
Wind energy conversion
Homestead Credit
The Homestead Credit is available to residential property owners. Iowans
saved almost $103 million in property taxes in fiscal year 2005. The credit
is an actual reduction in the amount of property tax owed; it is not a
refund.
To qualify for the credit, the property owner must be a resident of Iowa
and actually live on the property on July 1 and for at least six months of
every year. The only exceptions are persons in the military and nursing
homes who otherwise qualify.
Sign-up for the credit is at the assessor’s office by July 1 of the year the
credit is first claimed. Once a person qualifies, the credit continues until
the property is sold or until the owner no longer qualifies.
Military Exemption
Military veterans who served on active duty during wartime periods qualify
for this exemption. The veteran must apply with the local assessor; once
accepted, the exemption is ongoing. More than $2.4 million was claimed in
fiscal year 2005.
Ag Land Credit
The Agricultural Land Tax Credit was originally established in 1939 to
help offset higher farm taxes. The credit is available to all owners of
agricultural land of 10 acres or more if the use is for agricultural or
horticultural purposes. Land owners do not actually file a claim. The
county auditor determines the amount of the credit for each taxpayer.
In fiscal year 2005, more than $24 million was credited to agricultural land
owners.
Family Farm Credit
Legislation was enacted in 1990 to provide $10 million for the Family
Farm Tax Credit. The purpose was to give an additional property tax
credit to those individual land owners who were actively engaged in
farming the land. Once signing is required unless ownership or
designated person changes.
Land used for agricultural or horticultural purposes in tracts of 10
contiguous acres or more qualify for this credit. Buildings and other
structures do not. May sign anytime, however, a claim signed after
November 1 is considered as a claim filed for the following year.
Assessors
County and city assessors are not employees of the State or of the Iowa
Department of Revenue.
How many are there?
Counties: Each of Iowa’s 99 counties has one assessor.
Cities: Eight Iowa cities have their own assessors. Any city with a
population of more than 10,000 people may elect to have its own
assessor.
What do they do?
An assessor’s primary duty is to assess all real property, which includes
residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural. (The Iowa Department
of Revenue assesses public utilities and railroads.)
What don’t they do?
Collect taxes
Calculate taxes
Determine the tax rate
How does someone become an assessor?
County assessors are appointed by a conference board composed of the
county board of supervisors, the mayors of all incorporated cities, and a
board member from each school district who lives in the assessor’s
jurisdiction.
City assessors are appointed by a conference board composed of the
county board of supervisors, members of the city council, and all
members of each school board.
Assessors are appointed to six-year terms. To be eligible, they must have
a high school diploma or GED and pass an examination administered by
the Iowa Department of Revenue . To be reappointed, they must
successfully complete a continuing education program equal to 150 hours
of classroom instruction during their six-year terms.
How does an assessor value property?
Residential, commercial and industrial real estate is assessed at 100% of
market value
The assessor must determine the fair market value of the property. To do
this, the assessor generally uses three approaches.
Market Approach: Find properties that are comparable to yours which
have sold recently. Analyze sales of similar properties that were recently
sold. Determine the most probable sales price of the property being
appraised.
Cost Approach: Estimate how much money at current labor and material
prices it would take to replace the property with one similar to it. Useful
when no sales of comparable properties exist.
Income Approach: If the property produces income, such as with an
apartment or office building, estimate its ability to produce income.
Agricultural real estate is assessed at 100% of productivity and net
earning capacity value.
The assessor considers the productivity and net earning capacity of the
property. Agricultural income as reflected by production, prices,
expenses, and various local conditions is taken into account.
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