Shawnee County homeowners to see their appraisal valuations rise by about 5.5% on average

Shawnee County homeowners can appeal their residential appraised valuation until April 1.

Property owners who miss that deadline may still pay their taxes under protest.

Shawnee County Appraiser Steve Bauman said he encourages those who have questions and concerns to call his office, so he and his team can answer questions or assist in filing appeals.

Property owners can call the office's taxpayer assistance line at 785-232-4461, send an email to snappraiser@snco.us or fill out the back of their property valuation notice and mail it back to the appraiser's office.

More than 50,000 notices are being sent out March 1

Homeowners can expect to see their appraisal values rise this year by an average of about 5.5% per residential property in Shawnee County, Bauman said.

On March 1, 67,000 change-of-value notices will be mailed out. Last year, 70,000 were mailed out.

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Bauman said 85% of residential properties saw an increase in their appraisal value.

"We are statutorily required to appraise properties at what it should be able to sale for in the open competitive market," Bauman said. "Our numbers are not directly related to the amount of taxes that are necessary to operate the budget.

"Our appraisal values are used to distribute the total budgeted tax dollars to each individual property owner, so just because your appraisal values are going up 5% or 10%, does not mean your taxes are necessarily going to go up 5% or 10%"

"The budget still has to be determined later on in the year."

Keishera Lately is the business reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. She can be reached at klately@cjonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @Lately_KT.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Shawnee County appraisal valuations rising by about 5.5% on average