Garland County declares adjusted property values
HOT SPRINGS — Property values have risen for 30,000 of Garland County’s 78,000 real estate parcels since the last countywide reappraisal concluded in 2012, officials said.
The notices of changes in value are in the mail. The deadline to schedule an appeal before the Garland County Equalization Board is Aug. 21. Appointments can be scheduled by calling the county clerk’s office at (501) 622-3610. County court is the next venue in the appeal process, followed by circuit court.
The current mass reappraisal began in January 2013.
“Over the past four-plus years, we’ve been out inspecting or reviewing the information that’s on record to see if there’s anything changing,” Kelly Beaty, vice president of appraisal services for Arkansas Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal Technology, told Quorum Court members recently. “Real estate is always changing, and we’ve been continuously reviewing the information.”
Beaty said all 75 counties are on a five-year reappraisal cycle per state law. He said information on the property record website www. actdatascout.com will be updated with the new property values this week.
The appraisals determine property tax assessments that support schools and local governments. The county tax collector’s office said the more than 60,000 tax bills it mails every February total about $75 million. The 2017 bills are due by October 2018. Payments can be accepted as early as March 1.
According to information Beaty presented the Quorum Court, the county’s school districts receive 87 percent of the proceeds. The three incorporated areas in Garland County that levy general fund millages — Mountain Pine, 5 mills; Hot Springs, 2.6 mills; and Lonsdale, 1.6 mills — receive 5 percent.
Garland County’s 1.2 mills net about 3 percent of the total property tax proceeds for its general fund. The 1.6 mills levied for the county library account for about 3 percent of the proceeds, and the 0.8 of a mill levied for National Park College accounts for the remaining 2 percent of the $75 million in tax bills.
The taxing entities’ millage rates are applied to 20 percent of a property’s appraised value. Part of the proceeds will reimburse the Garland County assessor’s office for the entirety of its general fund-supported $1.04 million budget this year.
The state will provide $572,631 of Arkansas Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal Technology’s $738,001 contract. The rest of the cost will be repaid by a $165,370 general fund transfer. The taxing entities will reimburse the general fund for the transfer when the final tax settlement is issued in December.
Beaty told the Quorum Court that Garland County real estate has an $8.5 billion aggregate appraised value, an increase from the $7.9 billion measured during the last mass reappraisal. Values for existing properties remained unchanged from the previous reappraisal when the $613 million in new construction from 2013-17 is subtracted from the total, Beaty said.
“That’s not to say individual properties didn’t go up or down,” he said.
Beaty’s data showed 3,206 residential dwellings were built from 2007-16, down from the 5,499 built from 1997 to 2006. From 1987-96, 4,381 residential dwellings were built, and 6,263 were built from 1977-86.
Amendment 79 of the state constitution freezes property assessments on the principal place of residence for property owners 65 or older or those with disabilities. Improvements not previously assessed on those properties are assessed at the full 20 percent.
Amendment 79 also caps property assessments on principal places of residence to 5 percent of the assessed value from the previous year, increasing an additional 5 percent a year until the full assessed value of 20 percent is reached. Annual increases on property not serving as a principal place of residence are capped 10 percent, increasing an additional 10 percent a year until the full assessed value is reached.
Properties serving as principal places of residence are eligible for a tax credit of up to $350.