Tax assessment figures released by the county equalization department show home prices dropping while farmland values are going up.

By Dennis Pelham

Daily Telegram Staff Writer

ADRIAN — A weakening housing market last year is driving down residential tax assessments in the cities of Adrian and Tecumseh and in three of Lenawee County’s 22 townships. Farm property, however, continued gaining value with double-digit increases in five townships.

An accelerating decline in home values showed up in tentative assessment figures for cities and townships released last week by the Lenawee County Equalization Department. Assessment changes will be reflected in state equalized valuations. Most property owners, however, will see a 2.3 percent inflation increase in the separate taxable assessments that property tax bills are based on.

Notices showing changes in both taxable and non-taxable assessments are to be mailed to owners before the end of February, ahead of local board of review meetings. Boards of review begin the second week of March to hear challenges to assessments by property

owners.

Home prices and farmland values are moving in opposite directions in many parts of the county. A poor economy and job market are undercutting home values in the county’s urban areas while farms are in a booming market. Home values are down as much as 9.5 percent in Macon Township and 5.1 percent in the city of Tecumseh while farm values jumped 14.9 percent in Deerfield Township and rose in all but three townships where they are unchanged.

Stagnant and declining residential values are no surprise, but the price escalator that agricultural land is riding is an attention-grabber, said Martin Marshall, head of the county tax assessment office.

“I was a little surprised that the ag land in some areas did as well as it did,” Marshall said. Officials in the townships where farmland assessments are rising the fastest apparently agree buyers are paying more.

“We’ve not heard a lot of objections from the local assessors,” he said.

Assessment changes each year are based on evaluations of property sales.

“We have continued to have 140 to 170 good market transactions a year we can look at as a good evaluation of the ag market,” Marshall said.

High prices for corn, soybeans and other farm commodities are helping to beef up land values, he said. There are also investors looking to park money in what they see as a safe investment as an alternative to stocks and bonds, he said.

Leaders in farmland values after Deerfield Township are Seneca Township with an 11.1 percent gain; Ridgeway Township, 10.7 percent; Medina Township, 10.5 percent; and Blissfield Township, 10.4 percent. Gains were less than 10 percent in the remaining townships except in Palmyra, Rollin and Rome townships, where no changes were recorded.

Home values continued growing in some rural areas and lake communities, Marshall said. Fairfield Township has a 7.2 percent increase in residential values, possibly influenced by the continuing effect of the extension of water and sewer systems several years ago. Ogden and Rollin townships each saw a 4.9 percent gain in residential values followed by Medina Township with a 4.4 percent gain and Palmyra Township with 3.8 percent.

The cities of Morenci and Hudson saw residential property values increase 3.3 and 2.4 percent. Adrian Township edged up 1.6 percent. Raisin and Cambridge townships were unchanged.

Residential declines led by Macon Township and the city of Tecumseh are followed by the city of Adrian’s 2.8 percent decline. Madison and Tecumseh townships saw their residential values slip by 0.4 and 0.5 percent.

A year ago, residential property value declines were recorded in three townships, led by 6.7 percent in Macon Township, 1.3 percent in Dover Township and 0.4 percent in Medina Township.

Tentative figures for assessment increases by city and township were published Tuesday by Marshall’s office. Residential assessments are going up as much as 15 percent in Ridgeway Township and 9 percent in Ogden Township, but increases of less than 5 percent are listed in Adrian, Madison and Cambridge townships and only 1.5 percent in Raisin Township. An equalization notice appears on page A5 today.