Jones: Assessing your assessment

It’s that time of the year when property taxes are on the forefront of a lot of people’s minds. Legislators get a lot of questions on property taxes, so let’s go through some of the basics.

Let’s start with how and when homes are assessed. Iowa law requires that all residential property be reassessed every two years on the odd numbered year by the county assessor. So, all Iowa homeowners will have their homes reassessed next year.

When most Iowans talk about assessing a home, they are really talking about figuring out the market value. The law in Iowa is that assessed value is market value. Th...