From the Shelbyville News:
While Shelby County's overall property assessment went down slightly after a review completed in November, most residental neighborhoods remained somewhat the same.
According to numbers provided by the Shelby County Assessor's Office last month, property assessment fell from $2.995 billion in 2012 to $2.891 billion in the most recent assessment. That is significantly different than numbers given to The Shelbyville News in November, and different from the numbers the state recently reported.
But, despite the confusion, the assessed value seems to be, at the highest, a 1.4 percent decrease, and at the lowest, less than a 0.3 percent decrease.
"Overall you didn't really see much of a change in assessed values," said Brad Berkemeier of the Nexus Group, the vendor that recorded the new assessments for Shelby County.
Berkemeier said there are several factors in play with the reassessment, one of which was home sales. Home sales for 2011 and 2010 were averaged by neighborhood to help come up with assessed value used in the reassessment.
Local real estate agents have been excited about industry-provided reports that home values are up and inventory is down in Central Indiana, which they say was due, in part, to a better economy and low interest rates.
But Shelby County Assessor Anne Thurston is quick to point out that assessed value is used for taxing purposes and not the same as a home is bought or sold for.
Berkemeier said home sales are only a part of a larger range of criteria which affected the outcome of the reassessment, which also includes new construction valuation provided by the state and appeals.
"It is vital to consider all the different activities that were performed to arrive at the 2012 assessments when analyzing any assessment data, whether it's on an individual parcel or within an entire county," Berkmeier said. "2012 assessments are largely the result of sales trending and reassessment efforts, but appeals review, splits, new construction valuation, sales disclosure verification, and income and expense analyses might also be factors causing changes in assessed value."
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See the full article here:
http://www.shelbynews.com/articles/2013/02/27/news/doc512d2d68ed4d9136025988.txt
