General Information

Information about the Assessor

Assessors are appointed to their position by a Conference Board consisting of the members of the Board of Supervisors, the Mayors of all incorporated cities, and a member from each school district within the jurisdiction. A city with a population of ten thousand or more may elect to have their own assessor.

Assessors are required by statute to pass a state examination and complete a Continuing Education Program consisting of 150 hours of formal classroom instruction with 90 hours tested and a passing grade of 70% attained. The latter requirement must be met in order for the Assessor to be reappointed to the position every six years.

The Deputy Assessor also must pass a state examination as well as successfully complete 90 hours of classroom instruction of which at least 60 hours are tested.

The Conference Board approves the Assessors budget and after a public hearing acts on adoption of it. The Assessor is constrained by statute to a levy limitation for the budget. The limit depends on the value of the jurisdiction.

http://www.iowaassessors.com/bremer/

Assessor's Duties

The assessor is charged with several administrative and statutory duties. The primary duty and responsibility is to make sure all real property within his or her jurisdiction is assessed except where the law provides otherwise. This includes residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural classes of property.

Real property is reevaluated every two years. The effective date of the assessment is the first day of January of the current year. The assessor determines either a full or partial value for new construction and improvements depending upon their state of completion on January First.

Misconceptions about the Assessor's Work

The Assessor does not:

• Collect Taxes
• Calculate Taxes
• Determine Tax Rate
• Set policy for the Board of Review

The Assessor is concerned with value, not taxes.

Taxing jurisdictions such as schools, cities and townships, adopt budgets after public hearings. This determines the tax levy, which is the rate of taxation required to raise the money budgeted.

The taxes you pay are proportional to the value of your property compared to the total value of property in your taxing district.

Dates to Remember

January 1st - Effective date of current assessment

April 16 through May 5 inclusive - Protest of assessment period for filing with the local Board of Review

May 1 through adjournment - Board of Review meets each year.

October 15 through October 25 inclusive - Protest period for filing with Board of Review on those properties affected by changes in value as a result of the Director of Revenue and Finance Equalization Orders (odd numbered years.)

By July 1 - Period for filing for Homestead Credit and Military Exemption. One time filing is provided, by statute, unless the property owner is

1. filing for Military or Homestead Credit the first time
2. has purchased a new or used home and is occupying the property as a homestead as of July 1st; or
3. owner was using as a homestead but did not previously file.

Filing is required on the following, if provisions have been made for exemptions as required:

• Annual
• Permanent
• Family Farm Credit
• Forest Reservations
• Fruit Tree Reservations
• Pollution Control
• Impoundment Structures
• Wildlife Habitat
• Native Prairies
• Open Prairies
• Other
• Forest Cover
• Urban Revitalization
• River and Stream Banks
• Industrial Partial
• Recreational Lake
• 427B
• Wetlands
• Disabled Veterans Homestead