MOUNT VERNON – So far, roughly 13 property owners have filed complaints to the Knox County Auditor’s Office after the increased property valuations hit county homes.
The compliant form is due April 1.
The increase in property taxes comes in the new sale valuation data, which, according to county auditor Sarah Thorne, comes every three years.
“When a deed is transferred and it has the selling price for the property, all those get sent to the state,” Thorne said. “So for 2020-2022 sales were crazy. And that was after our reappraisal in 2020. We had homes valued at $85,000 selling for $250,000.
“But the state looks at all that. So they’re looking at our new values from reappraisal, they’re looking at all these sales coming in.”
If new values do not matching current sale prices then the values will increase. This year was 40%, with the average being 37%, based on each neighborhood’s sales, Thorne said.
Property owners who wish to file a complaint form can go to the auditor’s website.
What happens when the complaint form is filled?
Once the complaint forms are gathered, they’re logged into the county’s real estate system, Thorne said, adding the county’s appraiser visits the properties in question.
“They’ll go out and take pictures, look for anything possible that we don’t have picked up because they have a copy of the property record card in the complaint form,” Thorne said.
“There has been instances where we didn’t have a big pool barn picked up, that was new value that then had to be added on.”
Afterward, the appraiser comes back to the auditor and board of revisions citing if the property value needs any changes.
“At that point [the property owner] can accept or they can come in for a hearing. Then they’ll meet with the board of revisions, the commissioner, treasurer, myself and then the appraiser will have to come in as well to meet them,” Thorne said.
The percentage of cases that go in the property owner’s favor depends, Thorne said.
