Business leaders hold meeting Monday to discuss reassessment

"This is really a fact-finding mission," Mid State Seed owner Steve Blalock said before opening the floor for questions and statements.

"I know reassessment is something that nobody really likes," state Rep. Joe Aull said. But, he continued, "One thing is important to remember -- reassessment is designed to be a revenue neutral-process."

Aull said, as Pond had previously told The Marshall Democrat-News, that when assessments on property increase, taxing entities, such as schools and cities, should decrease their levy amounts because the law does not allow the public bodies to make a profit from reassessments.

Becky McRoberts with Central Missouri Board of Realtors provided some sales statistics about residential real estate in Marshall.

In 2007, she said, the average home sold for $92,313, but this year the average price is $85,985.

McRoberts also said the volume of sales is down about 22 percent from 2007 to 2009, and she questioned why assessed values were increasing when the market was decreasing.

The numbers McRoberts presented are statistics compiled by the board of realtors, she said, but they are not public information and therefore not available to Pond when conducting reassessments.

Bob Epperson from the Missouri State Tax Commission said the increases in assessments reflect attempts to bring the assessed values of area homes closer to actual market value.

Epperson said that, prior to 2009, many homes in Marshall were being assessed at 75 percent of their market value, but "in small rural towns, her (Pond's) values were above market value."

"We recognize that you can't have perfection," meaning 100 percent of market value, Epperson said. But, the tax commission asks that assessors strive to be within 90 percent of market value.

Epperson also elaborated on the complicated assessment process in general. He told those assembled about the five major components of an assessment: land value, data about the home, condition of the home, quality of the home and the cost multiplier, which calibrates the figures to the local area.

He noted the amount of time and labor put into the reassessment process, especially as the Saline County assessment office does not yet have a computer system equipped to perform the calculations.

"Every card had to be refigured," he said, which involves an average of 10 calculations by hand per card. There are 15,920 cards representing properties in Saline County, Pond said.

Epperson also emphasized the need for the public to provide data to the assessor's office.

"The more information she gets, the more accurate the program can be," he said.

Pond, who attended the meeting as well, said her office mails letters to the buyers of every home sold in the county, asking for information about the houses.

"We get a lot of information when we do get those back," she said, though that is not too often as people are not required to provide the information requested.

Area residents remained civil throughout the meeting and said very little aside from a few questions. At one point, three individuals compared the increases in value from the reassessment; all were about 30 percent.

As the meeting concluded Aull said, "To really know the impact, you're going to have to wait until the levies come out."

He said all public entities should hold hearings about tax levies by the end of August.

Others who attended the meeting included Marshall Mayor Connie Latimer and Saline County Presiding Commissioner Becky Plattner.

Contact Sydney Stonner at marshallbusiness@socket.net

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