WARREN COUNTY, Iowa – One Warren County homeowner has a lot of questions after her home was recently reassessed at nearly $325,000 higher than it was assessed last year.

“Of course, property values go up every year and we are very well aware of that,” said Jessi Johnson. “We have all of our tax documentations from previous years and it goes up incrementally. The house went up, of course, but just our property, not including the home, went up to $36,000 an acre.”

Johnson lives on roughly six and a half acres out in the country and said she and her husband got a “rude awakening” in late February after they learned their home’s value jumped from $536,000 in 2024 to more than $860,000 in 2025 for no obvious reason.

“We haven’t done anything in 10 years now,” she said. “We have not built anything on our property. We have not planted a whole bunch of trees. We have done really nothing. We haven’t gotten a new roof. We have not done anything that is significant in the last 10 years.”

Public records confirmed the rapid rise in Johnson’s home value. And she is not the only person affected. A neighbor told WHO-13’s Katie Kaplan that they saw an exponential increase for just a small portion of their driveway.

Johnson said she is worried about how this will impact her property taxes and those residents who might not be able to afford an increase.

However, Supervisor Aaron DeKock, the chairman of the Warren County Board of Supervisors, said there is a “big difference” in total tax bills and an assessment. He said the state has capped property taxes and that how much a homeowner will have to pay will depend on local levies.

Supervisor DeKock also said that the state requires a home assessment to be within 5 percent of comparable comps and that homeowners have a right to dispute the valuation.

That is something Johnson said she and her husband are looking into, with an appointment already booked with the Warren County Assessor’s Office. Johnson said she and her husband did not find any comps that matched their evaluation for a residentially-zoned property.

The assessment was part of a 10-year reevaluation project by Vanguard Appraisals, Inc., out of Cedar Rapids, which was hired by the county.

According to Raymond Armel, the President of the Iowa State Association of Assessors, the revaluation project is conducted to bring home values in line with the current market place, which does not necessarily occur naturally. Below is his explanation of the process:

“In addition to every two years being a revaluation year where all property is subject to values being re-established based on market trends, it is not uncommon for an assessment jurisdiction to have a revaluation project contracted to bring values in line with the current market.  These revaluation projects are often held every 10-12 years but can also occur over shorter or longer periods.  A revaluation project such as this resets values to current market levels.  Over a long period of time, not all property adjusts to market trends at the same rate and as such, the result in inequity and inconsistency with the market.  Vanguard Appraisals Incorporated is an Iowa-based company providing these services to Iowa Assessors as well as throughout the Midwest.

Iowa law requires assessors to revalue all property every two years. January 1, 2025 is such a year and is also known as an equalization year.  If the Assessor does not perform this function, the Iowa Department of Revenue has the authority to equalize these values in the fall of 2025 retroactive to the January 1, 2025 assessment date.  The assessor must also comply with a statistical guideline with these values.  The median sale ratio for a given class of property must fall within a range of 95-105%.  If the values are not compliant, the Iowa Department of Revenue can again exercise its authority to equalize the values in an aggregate manner so that the median sale ratio is at 100%.  The Assessor, by acting on their own and by utilizing revaluation services, is able to adjust values independently of each other, by market areas, towns, neighborhoods, ages, sizes, conditions, styles, etc.  

What also must be remembered is that the assessed values, after the assessment limitation/roll back, exemptions and credits, are utilized to simply spread the tax askings of the various taxing bodies.  The January 1, 2025 assessment will not be used for this purpose until the fiscal year payable July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027.”

Raymond Armel, President of the Iowa State Association of Assessors

There is a Board of Supervisors meeting scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, where several residents plan to speak up about their concerns.

Anyone in Warren County who has concerns over their recent property valuation should contact the Warren County Assessor’s Office at 515-690-9170 or assessor@warrencountyia.org.