City hears from county on equalization reappraisal

The Tea city council met Jan. 18 and heard from Lincoln County director of equalization Karla Harkness about the reappraisal done on properties in the city.

Harkness noted that her office began reappraising property in the county in March 2015. They started with Delapre Township and the city of Tea. At the end of 2015, they finished their appraisals for those two areas and made it two-thirds of the way through Harrisburg.

She noted that property owners in Delapre Township and Tea will receive preliminary assessments this week. Once they receive their assessments, property owners can contact the Lincoln County equalization office with any questions or concerns about the assessed value for 2016. Harkness said her office will have extended hours Jan. 25-28 until 8 p.m.

Harkness explained that assessors used three approaches to coming up with a value. They looked at comparable sales, the cost approach, which is replacement cost minus depreciation and the income approach, which is any income the property generates minus expenses.

The county decided to reassess properties because Lincoln County is the fastest growing county in the state. By doing the reassessment, it keeps tax records accurate and current and makes everything fair.

Before doing this reassessment, the equalization office relied on building permits to make assessments.

“Right now we rely on building permits. We’ve found many things that did not have building permits. We found a lot of properties that finished off their basements,” Harkness said.

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