Sarpy assessor gets an earful

Afternoon meetings of the Sarpy County Board often draw from five to 10 residents. County employees regularly outnumber the audience.

On Tuesday, about 150 rural property owners attended a 3 p.m. meeting, many with scowls across their faces and copies of a Saturday World-Herald article in their hands. The article had highlighted drastically increased rural farmhouse property valuations in Sarpy County.

Some in the crowd said their valuations were "only increasing by $100,000," joking that they were there to ask for more.

The board did not take comments from audience members, but their stares communicated well.

The Sarpy board now hopes to reach a compromise with County Assessor Dan Pittman over the next two weeks to modify his pending decision to substantially increase the valuations of about 800 agricultural properties.

"There is a public outcry," County Board Chairwoman Joni Jones said. "And they spoke loud and clear today. I think there will be some changes."

This year, the Sarpy County Assessor's Office increased the valuations of the acre of land under about 800 rural homes from several thousand dollars to $64,000. That's in addition to the valuations of the homes, which are assessed individually.

Jones said she expected the board would meet with Pittman - and perhaps county legal staff - to determine "if the $64,000 amount can be reduced."

"I think Dan Pittman is . . . willing to sit down and meet with us," she said. "I am confident he will work for a compromise."

Jones said she believes Pittman's office ultimately will back off his initial proposal.

Pittman has said the increased valuations were needed because similar land used for acreages was selling for higher amounts.

During an often-lively discussion, four of the five board members expressed displeasure with Pittman's justification.

Board members told Pittman that they did not want to spend the entire summer conducting Board of Equalization hearings for angry landowners singled out by the assessor's office for a significant spike in valuations - the baseline on which property tax bills are calculated.

"I think it's a good idea that you put out the fire before it gets started," board member Rich Jansen, of rural Gretna, told him.

Acreages - homes built on several acres of land - have gained popularity near Omaha over the past decade. And Pittman had not revalued farmhouse sites for several years. Other metro area counties -Douglas, Washington, Saunders, Dodge, Cass and Lancaster - have valued the land under farmhouses at the higher figures.

Valuations in the other counties for the land called "first acres" range from $20,000 in Douglas to up to $110,000 in Lancaster.

Board member Pat Thomas scolded Pittman for the way his office had handled the matter. Thomas said the assessor's office should have stayed on top of the rural land values in recent years and issued gradual increases, if, in fact, valuations needed to be increased.

Thomas urged Pittman to scrap his current proposal of setting the acre of land under the farm homes at $64,000 and instead adopt a sliding scale, setting it at say, $20,000 this year, then increasing it to $30,000 in 2010 and so on.

"Why, all of a sudden, 'Boom?'" Thomas asked. "It's just too much, too fast, too quick."

Pittman said he would not scale back the agricultural valuations to $34,000, for instance, "without market data that tells me I was wrong the first time."

Jansen drew thunderous applause from the crowd when he said, "It is totally irresponsible - $64,000, my God! Values have been going down."

By meeting's end, Pittman acknowledged the board's sentiments and agreed to meet with them.

Following the meeting, dozens from the crowd walked to the County Clerk's Office for paperwork to file a property tax protest before the June 30 deadline.

World-Herald staff writer Tom Shaw contributed to this report.

• Contact the writer: 444-1056, john.ferak@owh.com