Gage County’s assessor and State Senator Myron Dorn explained the county’s valuation process and recent state legislative changes at the Board of Supervisors meeting on June 25 as dozens of residents attended to ask how rising valuations translate to tax bills.

Patty, the Gage County assessor, described the county’s mass appraisal process: staff and contractor MIPS review sales (two-year lookback for residential, three years for commercial and agricultural), calculate sale-to-value ratios and make adjustments by neighborhoods and property types to meet comparability targets established by the Tax Equalization and Review Commission (TERC). She said the assessor’s office uses MIPS software to generate parcel records and that the county has been re-evaluating areas in phases to bring valuations into the required ranges.

State Senator Myron Dorn (R-Adams) explained recent legislative changes, including passage of LB 34 in 2024, which he said imposes a 3% cap on budgets (with enumerated exemptions) and expanded state contributions to property-tax relief through programs such as TEOSA and additional state-funded aid. Dorn said the state has increased funding to reduce the reliance on property taxes and that taxing entities should generally lower mill levies where valuation rises permit.

Several residents raised concerns about the transition to the MIPS system and temporary inconsistencies in publicly available parcel data. A resident, Max Quattromani, said published dwelling data changed and that he could not access consistent records needed to compare properties during the protest period. Patty acknowledged there had been a short period when some GIS/exported fields were inconsistent after the software change and said staff corrected the errors; she encouraged residents to meet with assessor staff or referees and to file protests by the statutory deadline. The board reminded residents that protests must be filed by Monday at 5 p.m.

Why it matters: County valuations determine the denominator used to calculate mill levies for cities, schools, fire districts and counties; state aid changes and a new budget cap alter how taxing entities set levies and budgets. Board members and residents emphasized the importance of transparency and clear public access to parcel data during protest and review periods.