‘It falls on deaf ears’: Lincoln homeowner frustrated over valuation protest

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A Lincoln homeowner is fighting to reduce his property value.

Jason Loos lives near 9th and Van Dorn streets.

He moved in about eight years ago and bought the house for just over $100,000.

In the past five years, his property valuation has gone up by more than $50,000.

His girlfriend, Carla Waldbaum, is the Realtor who sold him the house.

The two of them worked together on a protest and successfully got the valuation reduced from $161,200 to $144,000.

But the pair came to a shocking realization: even though the had a successful protest, their fight wasn’t over.

Loos received a message from the Lancaster County Assessor’s Office saying the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office would be appealing the original value of $161,200.

Channel 8 reached out to both offices on Sunday but did not receive a response.

“It’s like you’re completely spinning your wheel,” Loos said. “You’re spending hours looking up information so you can defend yourself and it falls on deaf ears.”

If the reduction sticks, it would lower Loos’ property taxes by about $300 per year.

But he feels discouraged about the continuous hearings and said it feels like he’s being “pushed down.”

“I have to take another day off from work to go down and visit with them, take in my pile of paper and hope that it will work,” he said. “I have an inch-thick packet of paper that they have thrown at me to challenge this thing. And it’s just, how many hours have they tied up for $300?”

Waldbaum said most homeowners wouldn’t be able to put up a fight like this for the valuation.

She said it takes a lot of time to research the value of the surrounding community and homeowners have to take time off of work for these protest meetings.

“I don’t think this is the solution,” Waldbaum said. “I think that if there is a process set up that gives a homeowner a way to process their value, it should be honored. It shouldn’t just be a waste of their time.”