Greene county auditor Jane Heun and the board of supervisors will have a very modest increase in total taxable valuation for the county as they formulate the FY 2017 budget in the weeks ahead.
Pam Olerich, real estate and tax coordinator in the auditor’s office, reported to the supervisors at their Jan. 4 meeting that total taxable valuation for the county is $622,416,323, an increase of 0.85 percent over the current year. The taxable valuation is based on property values as of Jan. 1, 2015. A year ago, the increase was 2.87 percent.
The taxable valuation of rural properties increased by .21 percent to $455,316,659, while the taxable valuation of urban properties increased 2.63 percent to $167,099,664. Because more of the property in the county is rural than urban, the smaller increase in rural valuation absorbed some of the increase in urban values in figuring the total taxable valuation.
Property values of rural property were down in every township except Junction and Paton. Olerich explained that the 6.32 percent increase in valuation in Junction Township is due to the 25-turbine wind farm phasing into the valuation and that the county will continue to see increases there. A 13.86 percent increase in valuation in Paton Township is due to construction at Bauer Built and John Deere.
The urban valuation in Rippey lost .33 percent, but other cities in the county gained valuation as follows: Churdan, 1.21 percent; Dana, 4.97 percent; Grand Junction, 2.63 percent; Jefferson, 1.89 percent; Paton, 3.38 percent, and Scranton, 6.26 percent. A small part of Ralston is in Greene County; that portion saw an increase of 10.89 percent.
Valuations for the Greene County and Paton-Churdan school budgets also increased. Values for East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton were reported separately because until the state incentive for reorganization phases out, the tax levies in the former districts will not be the same. Taxable valuation in the former EG district increased 2.65 percent to $137,374,616. Valuation in the former J-S district decreased .01 percent to $317,217,602 (a decrease of $23,674). Paton-Churdan has an increase of 3.20 percent this year, up to $112,585,084.
Olerich noted an increase of 45.63 percent in property values in tax increment finance (TIF) districts, up to $5,419,023, with most of that being in Jefferson. She reminded the supervisors that TIF districts factor into the taxable valuation of every taxing unit.
The taxable valuation is the first number in the formula used to figure levy rates required to meet the county’s revenue needs. Heun and the supervisors will have the FY 17 budget (July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017) completed in March.
Wild Rose Jefferson has already provided to the county approximately $60,000 from gaming revenue since it opened July 13. That money is in the county’s general fund. However, the valuation that is part of the budget now being formulated (FY 17) is based on construction completed as of Jan. 1, 2015. A year from now, the valuation will show the completed project as it stood Jan. 1, 2016.
