~PRESS RELEASE~

Plymouth County Assessor, Jill Renken, is announcing that door-to-door inspections of all town residential, rural residential, ag dwellings, commercial, and industrial properties in Plymouth County will begin in mid-May or early June.  Representatives of Vanguard Appraisals, Inc. in conjunction with the Plymouth County Assessor’s Office will be conducting this project. 

A reappraisal project was approved by the Conference Board in February 2019.

Robert Bellmer	Micah Hoffman	Lynn Wold	Garrett Reed
Rick Droog	Kyle Andresen	Scott Johnson

The purpose of the reappraisal project is to equalize property assessments so that each taxpayer is responsible for paying only his/her fair share of the property tax burden.  Periodic inspections and reappraisals are necessary to update information and adjust for market conditions affecting property values. Some properties physically deteriorate faster than others, and in many instances, similar homes located in different areas of the county will differ greatly in value due to economic factors.

Letters will be sent to property owners with further details closer to when data collectors will be in their town or rural area.

Preliminary data collection will begin in Le Mars and then move to the small towns, rural dwellings, and commercial and industrial properties. The project is to be completed on December 31, 2023. 

Each Vanguard employee has had a full background check and will have photo IDs signed by the Assessor and will attempt to do interior and exterior inspections of all properties. They will be compiling information to be used to estimate the fair market value of each property.  Information to be collected includes the type of construction, type of interior finish, the physical condition of the property, age of structures, and exterior measurements.  A complete sales analysis, local construction costs, and economic conditions are also considered.  No estimate of value will be given at the time of inspection.

Property owners are asked to cooperate by allowing a complete inspection of their property and providing accurate information so that a fair and equitable assessment may be determined for each property.

Notice of final value estimates will be mailed to each property owner after January 1, 2024.  The property owners will have an opportunity to meet informally to discuss their revaluation in the spring of 2024.

The new assessed values will be effective January 1, 2024, for taxes payable in fiscal 2025-2026.

All law enforcement agencies as well as the Plymouth County Assessor’s Office will be apprised of the areas where data collectors are working.  They will also have a listing of all names and license plate numbers of anyone involved in the project.

If any property owner has questions regarding the reappraisal project, they are urged to contact the Plymouth County Assessor’s Office at 712-546-4705 or email: jrenken@plymouthcountyiowa.gov.  Information regarding the reappraisal project will also be posted on the Plymouth County website at www.plymouthcountyiowa.gov.

The Homestead Tax Credit Application and Military Exemption Application can now be filled out online through the Vanguard website.    Please call our office with any questions at 712-546-4705 or email epepper@plymouthcountyiowa.gov. 

***IMPORTANT***

YOU MUST HAVE YOUR DD214 DISCHARGE PAPERS SHOWING ACTIVE DUTY SERVICE FILED IN THE RECORDER'S OFFICE IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR A MILITARY EXEMPTION. 

PLEASE CONTACT OUR OFFICE TO SEE IF THERE IS ONE ON FILE BEFORE YOU FILL OUT THE EXEMPTION ONLINE.  

WE ALSO HAVE APPLICATIONS IN OUR OFFICE FOR THE DISABLED VETERAN HOMESTEAD TAX CREDIT.   

THE DISABLED VETERAN HOMESTEAD TAX CREDIT APPLICATION MUST BE DONE IN THE ASSESSOR'S OFFICE AND CANNOT BE DONE ONLINE.