Residential property valuations are increasing an average of 12 to 15 percent in Winneshiek County

Owners of houses and other residential properties in Winneshiek County have been getting their property tax bills for 2018-2019.  They will probably notice that higher valuations on their property are part of their bills.

County Assessor Jim Alstad says the higher valuations are the result of a complete revaluation study of all residential properties in Winneshiek County.  Such a study hasn't been done for residential property since 2002.  The study was a door to door canvas of residential property in the county.

Alstad says the new property valuations average 12 to 15 percent higher than previous residential property valuations in Winneshiek County.  The new values, he says, "are keeping pace with what houses are selling for."

Winneshiek County property tax bills include an "assessed valuation" and a "taxable valuation."  The assessed valuation is the estimate of what the property is worth in the marketplace.  However, property taxes are not levied on the full assessed valuation, so the figure used after rollbacks is the "taxable valuation," which will be multiplied by property tax rates for various governments in order to produce the amount of property taxes due.