.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} As of the middle of last week, no ruling had been made on a legal question of great interest to many Central Iowa property owners. The Polk County assessor is challenging the Iowa Department of Revenue on property valuation, and the outcome could affect both revenues and development.

The Code of Iowa says, “the actual value of all property subject to assessment and taxation shall be the fair and reasonable market value of such property …” But the Iowa Department of Revenue adopted a rule requiring all city and county assessors to value property “according to its present use and not according to its highest and best use.”

According to the online newsletter of the county assessor’s office, “We feel that property owners who underutilize their properties should not be rewarded with a lower assessment, the effect of which is to shift the property tax burden onto other property owners.”

A hearing was held before District Judge Darrell Goodhue on March 3 to determine standing – can the assessor legally challenge a rule set by the Department of Revenue? If Goodhue allows the case to proceed, that’s when the debate will really get knotty.

The Department of Revenue uses this example to justify its ruling: “Property currently used as a golf course shall be assessed and valued by the assessor as a golf course even though its highest and best potential use may be an industrial park or commercial development.”

The assessor uses a similar example to make the opposite point: a five-acre parcel that has been zoned for commercial use and is in demand by developers, but holds only one house assessed at $125,000. “If we were to assess it at market value, the assessment would be $500,000,” the newsletter says. “Under the new use-value rule, we would be required to assess it at $125,000.”

The department’s rule sounds more reasonable than the Iowa Code. You should be taxed on the basis of what you have, not what somebody else thinks you could or should have.