CAMPBELL COUNTY - The use of a new electronic Geographic Information System (GIS) is expected to produce the most accurate value assessment of agricultural land and reduce some property values for the 2009 tax year.

Campbell County Property Valuation Administrator Daniel Braun said he will talk for about 10 minutes about the Campbell County Agricultural Land Reassessment Project at the farmland protection meeting Tuesday, April 29.

It's the first year the PVA has used the system, which is more scientific, Braun said.

"And it is going to bring down land assessment some in some of the areas," he said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has information on the eight different types of soil quality that the GIS system is able to use, he said.

"Class 1 is the best, which we have very little of in Campbell County," Braun said.

PVA assessors will still drive out and look at the property, Braun said.

"But before, it was based more on crops and livestock," he said. "It was a lot more guesswork in the past."

The PVA assesses the value of agricultural land in the unincorporated county every four years, Braun said.

The Campbell County Conservation District has also helped the PVA determine what are fair rent values for different types of farm land that are more specific than regional averages the state provides to PVA offices that were used in the past, he said.

"They've (conservation district) been assisting me to make sure it's not only fair and equitable, but it's the right way to do it," Braun said.

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