Homes in Seward received a 15% valuation increase this year, following a 12% bump last year. A high demand for residential properties and a shortage in home inventory continues to drive home values skyward.
Seward County Assessor Marilyn Hladky’s office recently mailed notices of valuation change to 8,300 property owners in Seward County.
Hladky said the change in a property’s valuation is based on buying and selling trends.
“Assessors have to react to the market and analyze what’s happening in the market,” she said. “We’ve had low interest rates and it’s been a seller’s market. If you look in the newspaper and so forth, there aren’t that many houses available.
“They’re not on the market long at all. It’s an issue of supply and demand.”
Seward County is experiencing a housing shortage, something the Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership has focused on addressing since its most recent housing study in 2019.
That study was an update from a 2013 study that estimated 534 additional housing units were needed by 2018, yet only 282 new units were built by 2019.
The 2019 study estimated 488 more housing units would be needed by 2024, with 242 of those targeted in the City of Seward and 60 in the City of Milford.
Milford has since begun building single-family homes in the Timber Creek subdivision and recently opened 21 new apartments.
Seward has seen the start or completion of several subdivisions and apartment complexes as well, putting a large dent in the number of homes needed, but demand keeps growing as the city continues to grow at a steady population rate of 1% per year.
The SCCDP recently received another round of Rural Workforce Housing Fund money that will be used to provide more than $1 million in loans to aid in the cost of building new affordable housing.
All property in the county must be inspected every six years for physical changes, additions or improvements. Market adjustments for a particular area may be given when the real estate market warrants it.
Hladky is required by state law to use two years’ worth of sale data in determining residential valuations. This year’s data spanned from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2022.
Agricultural and commercial properties are based on a three-year data set, from Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 2022.
Though mortgage interest rates are now back on the upswing, slowing sales over the past few months, Hladky said homes are still selling for more than their assessed value, and it will take a couple years for valuations to even out.
“I would love to be able to lower values sometime,” Hladky said. “I have to use two years’ worth of sales. The market was really strong two years ago. We’re dropping one year and adding one where interest rates have brought sales down, but they don’t decrease immediately.”
The state regulates property values based on the median sale value of similar properties in an area. A community’s valuation must be at least 92% of the median value.
“When you talk about a median, that’s the middle one. You have as many over the median and as many under the median,” Hladky said. “You could have some that aren’t even up to that 92% and some that are over 100%.”
In Seward, the starting point in 2023 was 83.08%. Hladky had to give a 15% increase to homes to meet the 92% threshold. Residential land values did not change.
Countywide, valuations are at 93%.
Different communities are examined on a case-by-case basis, Hladky said.
For example, “I do all the Seward properties separate from Beaver Crossing because that’s not comparable,” she said.
Utica received a 12% increase while Milford saw a 19% bump. Other communities also went up, and acreages in rural parts of the county ranged in increases from 10% to 25%, with those closer to Lancaster County experiencing stronger market values than those in the western part of Seward County.
If a county assessor’s valuations are not compliant with state guidelines, the state intervenes.
“If the state gets involved, they have to raise it to the midpoint. Even though I raised it that much, it’s not as much as the state would have raised it – up to 95%,” Hladky said.
She said the first question people ask when they receive their valuation change notice is how it will affect their property taxes. That won’t be known until the fall this year.
Three bills proposed this legislative session will affect property taxes. LB 243 provides some property tax relief. LB 583 changes the state aid funding formula for public schools, and LB 754 provides income tax relief.
Since schools are largely funded by property tax revenue, LB 583 aimed to lessen schools’ reliance on homeowners and shift school budgets away from property taxes.
“Tax rates are tax request divided by valuation,” Hladky said. “This year, we don’t know what it will be because there’s more school funding.”
Schools have until the fall to submit their final tax requests, and taxes are calculated in October.
Those who believe their new valuation is incorrect may file a protest with the county board of equalization in the county clerk’s office.
Protests must be solely on the basis of the valuation, not taxes, as the assessor’s office does not set taxes.
When a protest is filed, Hladky calls the property owner to set up an interior inspection of the property to make sure the information on record is correct.
“It’s to your advantage to get the accurate information on your house,” she said.
The property owner then must attend a hearing and show why the new value is not the probable value the property would sell for.
“I’m going to look at all the properties that sold and their values. It’s ultimately the board that makes a decision, but the burden of proof is on the person protesting,” Hladky said.
All protests must be written and contain the following: name and address of owner on record, legal description of real property, parcel number if assigned, value before change, value after change and a statement of the reason(s) why a change in value should be made. Failure to provide all required information will result in automatic dismissal of the protest.
The deadline to submit a protest form is June 30.
The protest form may be obtained from the county clerk’s office or online at www.pat.ne.gove/general/forms (Form 422).
