Wyoming's land values, taxes rising (complete article from source)
Source: Billings Gazette, by Ruffin Prevost
May 30, 2007
CODY - Rising real estate prices and a statewide switch to a new computer system for property valuations is leaving some Wyoming homeowners with sticker shock over their latest property tax assessments.
Assessors in Park and Sheridan County, where Friday was the deadline for homeowners to protest 2007 property tax assessments, have pointed to an influx of new residents paying sharply rising home prices as a big factor in the increases.
"The values are going up because of people coming here and seeing Wyoming as a good investment and a good deal," said Park County Assessor Doug "Rip" Brandt. "Of course, it's not all local buyers driving this. There is lots of development going on in the perimeters around Cody, and even Powell is just really zooming, too."
Brandt said that while values have been climbing in some desirable rural areas, older, well-maintained homes in and near towns are now also seeing a steep rise in value.
"The old-timers in smaller houses, wherever they happen to be, are really feeling it," he said. "They may have bought into that home many years ago for $40,000, thinking it would be stable, and now it's worth $150,000 or more."
Sheridan County Assessor Paul Fall said residents there have seen a string of annual double-digit increases in real estate values, a trend he called "crazy, and a little scary."
Countywide, values climbed 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, Fall said. That followed annual increases of 14 percent and 11 percent over the two previous years, he said.
Fall said that because those numbers are averages for all of Sheridan County, some neighborhoods have seen even bigger increases.
The annual increase from 2002 to 2003 was 3 percent, Fall said. But as interest rates hit record lows, renters became buyers, setting off a run on the housing market that is still growing strong in some parts of the state.
Fall agreed with Brandt that much of the boom is being fueled by new residents from out of state who see Wyoming as comparatively affordable.
"They might have just sold their house elsewhere for $800,000, so to come here and spend $450,000 for a place, they're tickled pink," he said.
Fall said the cities of Sheridan and Cody join Laramie and Cheyenne as hot destinations, with Gillette and Rock Springs booming from energy development, while Jackson continues to spiral upward in value.
But Fall said only about one-third of Wyoming's 23 counties are seeing the steep climb in property values, and the Legislature as a whole has been reluctant to take strong measures toward property tax relief.
The nonpartisan Tax Foundation, a national tax watchdog group, puts Wyoming's property tax burden at 10th-highest in the nation.
But with no income tax and low sales taxes, the group ranks Wyoming as having the 8th-lowest overall state and local tax burden.
Brandt said a statewide change to a new method of property valuation, used for the first time in Park County this year, has allowed his office to keep closer tabs on fair-market values, while also evaluating more properties than before.
The result has been that approximately 600 homeowners have stopped by his office over the last month to protest their assessments.
Almost all of those cases will be resolved informally, he said, by either correcting errors in the assessment or convincing homeowners the numbers are right.
That leaves "just a handful" who might seek relief through a formal appeal to Park County commissioners, he said, adding that there were no such appeals at that level last year.
Park County commissioners said they also have been hearing from constituents about the new assessments, as well as about lowering the county's 12 mills, the maximum levy allowed.
"The thing people don't realize is that rural Powell has 75 mills levied, and rural Cody has 81. But of that, the county receives only 12 mills," said Commissioner Marie Fontaine.
Educational benefits
Brandt said that about 70 percent of all property taxes collected in Park County goes to education, including grades K-12, community colleges and a state fund that pays for school buildings, with some of that building fund redistributed to poorer counties.
Of the remaining 30 percent, Brandt said, about 14 percent goes to cities, towns and entities like hospital, fire and cemetery districts, while 16 percent goes to Park County.
Commissioner Jill Shockley Siggins said she supported cutting some taxes, like a special 911 surcharge on telephone bills. That tax was originally meant to sunset after a fixed amount was raised, but it has remained, she said.
"But when you cut the 12 mills on property taxes, your revenue from oil and gas for the county goes down as well," she said.
Commissioner Bill Brewer said those who remember lower taxes from 20 years ago can't expect to judge today's economic climate by the same standard of the state's unprecedented energy boom in the mid-1980s.
"In 1985, our assessed valuation was more than it is today," he said.
Contact Ruffin Prevost at rprevost@ billingsgazette.com or 307-527-7250.
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