Sunday, April 14, 2019 ● The Gazette 1C

IOWA TODAY ®

Changing property values

How does your assessment compare?
By Mitchell Schmidt, The Gazette
The average increase or decrease in a neighbor-
hood’s assessed value depends on several factors,
including new construction, revaluation, demoli-
tion and changes in classification or taxable status.
These maps look at how assessed values
At left is the assessed value percentage change for all
Cedar Rapids neighborhoods. Here is a closer look at a
few of those neighborhoods. Find your neighborhood

C
online at thegazette.com/assessment.
EDAR RAPIDS — Many property tax assess- changed in a few Cedar Rapids areas from 2018 to
ments saw increases across much of Linn 2019, and the explanation provided about why.
and Johnson Counties this year, thanks in It’s important to note that if a neighborhood 40th St. NE
part to a strong housing market. value has changed by a specific percentage, that
Citywide, Cedar Rapids commercial properties does not mean every parcel in that neighborhood
increased by 3.5 percent, residential properties

First Ave. E
has changed by that same percentage. The total
increased by 5.2 percent and multiresidential number takes into account
properties saw a 28.2 percent in- all available parcel
crease, according to data from the value changes. 32nd St. NE
Cedar Rapids Assessor’s Office.

29th St. NE

SEE MORE ONLINE

l Take a closer look at
how Cedar Rapids and ● SE-201 — 15.4 percent INCREASE: Increased
Iowa City neighborhoods assessments are reactive to the market value of homes
fare under the latest that sold within the neighborhood in 2017 and 2018.
valuations on our interactive
maps at thegazette.com/
assessment.

10
SE
ve.

th
A

St
nd
co

SE
Se

SE
Ave.
10th

● SE-238 — 14.7 percent DECREASE: The neighborhood only

has seven parcels, so the April 2018 demolition of a residence
at 722 Fourth Ave. SE slightly skewed the neighborhood’s value
change. Several parcels in the neighborhood are tax-exempt.

Mount Vernon Rd. SE

ON THE MAP Otis Rd. SE

30% or higher
20 to 30%+
● SE 242 — 15.4 percent INCREASE: New housing
15 to 20%+ construction in 2018 raised the neighborhood’s overall
10 to 15%+ assessed value, along with an 11 percent market increase
because of sales in 2017 and 2018.
5 to 10%+
2.5 to 5%+
1 to 2.5%+
0 to 1%+ HOW TO CONTACT YOUR ASSESSOR
0% Property owners can request an informal LINN COUNTY ASSESSOR
-5 to 0% review from Tuesday through April 25. l 935 Second St. SW, Cedar Rapids 52404
-5% or lower In addition, a formal petition to the local l (319) 892-5220
Board of Review can be made from Tuesday l assessor@linncounty.org
through April 30. If you have a concern
about your assessment, here’s how you IOWA CITY ASSESSOR
can reach your assessor. l 913 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City 52240
l SW 418 — 0.6 percent DECREASE: Much of the residential property l (319) 356-6066
in this neighborhood remained unchanged. Statewide hits to the value CEDAR RAPIDS ASSESSOR
of agricultural land, which is assessed based on income and net earning l 500 15th Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids, 52404 JOHNSON COUNTY ASSESSOR
Gazette capacity, impacted the overall neighborhood’s assessed value. l (319) 286-5888 l 913 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City 52240
graphic l crassessor@cedar-rapids.org l (319) 356-6078

Holocaust survivor speaks IN IOWA l TODD DORMAN

out in honor of her family Iowa risks taking a step

Remembrance Day speaker shares story in local events
By Alison Gowans, The Gazette
Rachel Goldman Miller
was just a child when her
life became upended in the
horrors of the Holocaust.
Born in 1933, she had a
happy life as a girl in Paris
with her family until the
Nazis invaded France in
1940 when she was 7 years
old.
“When I saw them, I
was terrified,” she said of
the German soldiers she
saw marching through the
backward on water quality
A
streets. “They frightened
few years back, the Iowa ing river crests downstream in
me. There were no robots
Natural Heritage Founda- places such as Cedar Rapids. In a
in those days, but they were
tion bought 172 acres of land city hunkered behind sand barri-
robots.”
along and near the West Fork of ers, every inch counted.
Her parents knew their
the Cedar River in Butler County. The Natural Heritage Founda-
family wasn’t safe, and her
It’s one of the many patchwork tion used a low-interest loan from
mother forbade her from
puzzle pieces knitted together to the State Revolving Fund to buy
telling anyone she was Jew-
form the 6,100-acre Big Marsh the land, which eventually was
ish. The fears were well-
Wildlife Management Area wet- turned over to the Department of
founded; soon, her father
land complex. Natural Resources. The loan, plus
was detained and killed, a
Courtesy of Rachel Goldman Miller Those wetlands can hold 2.6 bil- costs and interests, was repaid.
victim of German medical
lion gallons of water when filled The foundation has tapped the
experiments. Rachel Goldman Miller with
a doll she uses in her talk to the brim. And when the Cedar fund, created by the Clean Water
It was just the first of
about her experiences as a River swelled in 2016, officials
credited the wetland with reduc- ;; IN IOWA, PAGE 4C
;; SURVIVOR, PAGE 4C Holocaust survivor.

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Tuesday, May 7, 2019 | 6 - 7:30 p.m.
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© 2019 The Gazette

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