Assessors are appointed to their position by a Conference Board (consisting of the Mayors of all incorporated cities, a member from each school district within the jurisdiction and the members of the Board of Supervisors) and the Iowa Department of Revenue. Education requirements must be met in order for the Assessor to be appointed to the position along with passing a state examination. A continuing education program must be completed each term consisting of 150 hours of formal classroom instruction with 90 tested hours.   

The Conference Board approves the Assessor’s budget and after a public hearing acts on adoption of the same. The Assessor is limited, by statute, depending upon the value of the jurisdiction, to a levy limitation for the budget.

The Assessor is charged with several administrative and statutory duties. The primary duty and responsibility is to assess all real property within the Assessor’s jurisdiction except that which is otherwise provided by law. This would include residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural classes of property.

Real property is revalued in the state of Iowa every two years. The effective date of the assessment is January first of each year.

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 county, 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.