By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Each year, the Barton County Appraiser's office sends out valuation notices to all property owners in the county. Per state statute, the deadline to mail those notices is March 1. Appraiser Wendy Prosser appeared before the Barton County Commission Tuesday morning to seek approval on a bulk mailing contract.
"Right now, we are scheduled to meet that deadline," Prosser said. "State law requires we send out the valuations, fair-market value, on all properties with the exception of land that is devoted to ag and utility properties. The Property Valuation Division from the Department of Revenue in Topeka evaluates and monitors our county accuracy levels by comparing the properties that have sold."
Sales prices and expectations are expected to vary by no more than 10 percent. The county received four bids for the mailing. The commission approved the bid from Master's Touch for $8,305.
"Our bulk mailing companies are able to obtain supplies and postage at reduced rates we can't do in-house," Prosser said. "With the size of the project, we have almost 18,000 parcels. With that, because of duplicate ownership, we mail out approximately 15,000 pieces of mail."
Last year, property valuations county-wide increased 20.2 percent on residential properties and 16.9 percent on commercial properties. Overall, the county saw a 14.6 percent increase.