Ag land values increase across Cedar County

HARTINGTON – More than 6,700 Cedar County residents received notices that their property values are changing in 2024.

County Assessor Becky Dresden said the notices were mailed out June 1 and sent to every property owner with a change in value whether that was an increase or decrease.

She expected there to be an overall increase in value for Cedar County property, although the numbers are still preliminary.

The pre-certified real estate value is more than $2.9 billion, but that amount does not include personal property.

For comparison, last year’s certified total value – including real estate, agricultural land and personal property – came in at more than $2.8 billion.

A raise in valuation does not necessarily mean there will be an increase in taxes for property owners.

The tax rate or levy is set after budgets have been submitted each August. If budget requests increase, taxes will be raised.

State law mandates the assessed value on property must fall within a range – or required level of value – established by the Nebraska Legislature.

The statute states agricultural land has to be valued between 68.5-75 percent of what the sales are showing, while the range for residential and commercial property is placed at 92-100 percent of the sales.

The selling price is recorded when a property is sold and the deed is recorded. The county assessor’s office then records the assessed value and a copy is submitted to the Nebraska Department of Revenue.

Residential property values – which have increased across most of the county – are set using the last two years of sales.

Hartington, Coleridge and Wynot each saw an overall increase of 16-18 percent in residential property values, while Laurel saw an 8 percent overall increase.

Randolph did not see much of an overall increase in residential property values, while Belden, Fordyce, Magnet, Obert and St. Helena each saw no overall change.

Agricultural land and commercial property values are both set using sales from the previous three years.

Commercial property values did not see an overall increase across the county.

This year in agricultural values, irrigated land values saw an increase from anywhere from 10 percent to 13 percent and dryland values rose across a range from 14 percent to 27 percent.

Grassland values increased by 10 percent and tree-covered land values also went up by 10 percent.

People who want to file property valuation protests must submit those to the county clerk's office by June 30.

Certification of the total values for the year will be mailed to each political subdivision by Aug. 20.