Assessor sends change of value notices for real estate holdings

Posted Wednesday, May 21, 2025 10:16 am

By Dave Marner, GCR Managing Editor

Gasconade County homeowners have received, or will be receiving notices of changes to the assessed valuation and appraised value of their property.

The “Real Estate Value Change Notice” includes the property location and values for the appraised value and the assessed value in a box on the top right-hand corner of the first of three pages. On the bottom of the cover pages for each property is the previous appraised value and the previous assessed value. Immediately below is the current appraised and assessed values.

Also included is a “Memorandum of Understanding” approved Jan. 24, 2024, by members of the Gasconade County Commission, Assessor Paul Schulte, and then  accepted March 24, 2024 by the three-member State Tax Commission. That document, entered into the record Sept. 24, 2024, basically mandated county assessors complete a parcel-by-parcel review of county properties to confirm data was correct for the 2025 County Assessment Cycle. The State Tax Commission also mandated assessors “continue to cleanup data and review manually forced obsolescence that was applied in years past.”

Assessors for counties were also mandated to conduct a depreciation study, an Index Manual Level Study, Neighborhood Study and a Land Study. With these results, assessors were instructed to raise residential land values and residential improvements by at least 8 percent “to progress toward market value” for the county’s 2025 assessment.

Assessors were to monitor local real estate market and sales data to set the market value figure.

The memorandum goes on to note the goal for the 2025 assessment cycle “is to make progress towards fair market value” by taking these steps while acknowledging some counties may not have staffing to complete these tasks. In the State Tax Commission’s letter, the agency noted “counties are not required to conduct a physical inspection for valuation increases up to 15% should a county not have sufficient staffing” to meet requirements under state statute “for increases in excess of 15%.”

Although land values and improvements to buildings are separate, the state commission also noted improvements to both the land and buildings may be increased up to 15% depending on the depreciation and neighborhood studies data “if the market warrants such increases.”

So, what does it all mean?

Your tax bill may not go up. Taxing entities set their local tax levies in the late summer based on their budget with guidelines from the state auditor’s office. Tax rates for these entities — cities, schools, ambulance and fire districts, county roads and bridge funds — are determined by the taxing entities.

The letter from the county assessor noted if you believe your taxes are too high, “then you should involve yourself in the budget process of the taxing entities listed” and “make your voice heard at their budget meeting.”

What are your options?

After reading the letter and accompanying information, you may consider an appeal. Before calling the assessor’s office, you are informed to “have recent documentation to back up your claim” if you think your assessment is too high. You may challenge the value through an “informal hearing” with the assessor. If your concerns are not resolved, you may ask for a formal appeal.

The letter also noted five reasons your assessment increased including that this is a reassessment year by state statute. There could also be new construction, a new parcel of land may have been added to your holdings, there was a split or combination of property, or to make a “correction of error or omission in assessment records.”

The letter goes on to list how property taxes are assessed and the rates (19% for residential, for example) and how to make an appeal.

In Gasconade County, the deadline to seek an informal appeal is June 30. The deadline to seek a formal hearing with an appointed Board of Equalization (BOE) is July 3 by contacting the County Clerk.

The notice states, “The property owner is cautioned that failure to file an appeal with the BOE prevents any further appeal to the State Tax Commission.”

For those who are not satisfied with the county-level BOE hearing, there is a formal state hearing and property owners will be required to provide a private appraisal.