Lancaster County Property Valuation Protest

Nearly 1,700 people in Lancaster County are expected to walk through the doors at the Lancaster Event Center on Monday and Tuesday.

They are protesting the value of their commercial or residential property.

“I gave them some information, they indicated they would certainly look at it and process this again, so that is about as good as you can hope for,” Lancaster County Resident, Doug Christensen said.

“I learned basically why it didn’t work for me this time and how it could possibly work in the future,” Lancaster County Resident, Carla McCullough said.

County officials say property values have no doubt, gone up.

“The last four years have been a period of significant increase in values on homes,” Lancaster County Assessor, Rob Ogden said.

Property owners can file a protest each year if they do not agree with the county assessor’s opinion of actual value.

Christensen says his property valuation went up $32,000 which he says is a big jump for property that’s sixty years old.

Christensen was able to get everything answered but there is still a part he is left questioning.

“If you don’t have houses in your particular band of that array, how they calculate an average cost because then that means it has to get bumped up to the upper range and that’s really not fair,” Christensen said.

The protest hearing also brought in new home owners, McCullough purchased her home for a lot less than it was appraised for.

“Since I purchased it from a situation where it wasn’t put on the market, they disregarded the sale price,” McCullough said.

You can typically see the county assessor valuation as early as March 19th.

The home owners talked to say the protest hearings are worth the time to get your questions and concerns asked.

“It’s your responsibility as a citizen to watch what government does, I don’t think government is out to get us but the watchfulness of the citizens is what keeps government accountable,” Christensen said.

For more information regarding the protesting process, click here.