CENTER – Nearly 10,000 Knox County property value notices were mailed out in 2024, while more than 6,700 were sent out to Cedar County landowners.
The notices were mailed out at the start of June and sent out to every property owner with a change in value whether that was an increase or a decrease.
Both counties are expected to see an overall increase in property values although the numbers are still preliminary.
“Almost everyone got (a notice),” Knox County Assessor Monica McManigal said, noting the county’s 11,000-plus parcels of property.
In Knox County, the pre-certified real estate value is more than $2.7 billion for 2024, but that amount does not include personal property.
For comparison, last year’s certified total value – including real estate, agricultural land and personal property – came in at more than $2.3 billion.
In Cedar County, the pre-certified real estate value is more than $2.9 billion, but again, that amount does not include personal property.
For comparison, last year’s certified total value – including real estate, agricultural land and personal property – came in at more than $2.8 billion.
A raise in valuation does not necessarily mean there will be an increase in taxes for property owners.
The tax rate or levy is set after budgets have been submitted each August. If budget requests increase, taxes will be raised.
State law mandates the assessed value on property must fall within a range – or required level of value – established by the Nebraska Legislature.
The statute states agricultural land has to be valued between 69-75 percent of what the sales are showing while the range for residential and commercial property is placed at 92-100 percent of the sales.
The selling price is recorded when a property is sold and the deed is recorded. The county assessor’s office then records the assessed value and a copy is submitted to the Nebraska Department of Revenue.
Residential property values – which have increased across most of both Knox and Cedar counties – are set using the last two years of sales.
“The market’s strong, so values increased,” Mc-Manigal said of the Bloomfield and Wausa areas of Knox County.
In Cedar County, Hartington, Coleridge and Wynot each saw an overall increase of 16-18 percent in residential property values, while Laurel saw an 8 percent overall increase.
Randolph did not see much of an overall increase in residential property values, while Belden, Fordyce, Magnet, Obert and St. Helena each saw no overall change.
Agricultural land and commercial property values are both set using sales from the previous three years.
For agricultural land values in the Bloomfield and Wausa areas of Knox County, irrigated land values increased 21 percent, dryland values went up 30 percent and grassland values saw a 50 percent increase.
This year in agricultural land values for Cedar County, irrigated land values saw an increase from anywhere from 10 percent to 13 percent and dryland values rose across a range from 14 percent to 27 percent.
Grassland values increased by 10 percent and tree-covered land values also went up by 10 percent.
Commercial property values in Knox County saw no change to a slight change overall, while they did not see an overall increase in Cedar County.
“The market stayed steady,” McManigal said of Knox County commercial property values.
People who want to file property valuation protests must submit those to each respective county clerk’s office by June 30.
The Knox County Board of Equalization held a public hearing on June 21 in Center to review 2024 property valuation protests filed between June 1 and June 16 and to hear testimony from those protestors.
The board also is scheduled to hold a public hearing on July 10 in Center to review 2024 property valuation protests filed between June 16 and June 30 and to hear testimony from these protestors.
Certification of the total values for the year will be mailed to each political subdivision by Aug. 20.
McManigal encouraged people to attend upcoming budget meetings for various political subdivisions, including county, school, village/city and natural resources district, to educate themselves and be part of the budget process.
