Home assessments on the rise in Sioux City

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) - Sioux City homeowners are suffering from sticker shock as they open notices from the city on the new assessment of local property values.

For one homeowner that contacted KTIV his assessment jumped $83,000 in just one year.

City Assessor Tyler Erickson said he expects property assessments will jump by up to 20%. Erickson said the city does assessments based on sales of homes in the last year. The assessor’s office has to make adjustments according to the Iowa Department of Revenue.

Erickson said the new assessments show the demand for homes is high but he understands the burden the assessments put on homeowners when it comes to paying property taxes that will go up along with the higher assessments.

“I think it’s good for Sioux City in general, when you have prices that are soaring, and they were too high, or people didn’t want to be here, you wouldn’t have houses selling, so this shows that people want to be in Sioux City,” said Erickson.

Tonya Vakulskas, the president of the Northwest Iowa Board of Realtors, said she has seen the real estate market level out. When looking at listing a property, she doesn’t put a lot of weight on the property assessment, but, she knows an increase in the assessment can be bad for the homeowner.

“We are concerned with the very rapid increase in assessments that some people could lose their homes and that is a very tragic situation,” said Vakulskas.

Homeowners have the option to appeal the assessments. The window to appeal opens on April 2 and closes on April 30. More information is available at the assessor’s appeal site.

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