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Cole County assessor proposes full residential reassessment, warns of more impact notices
Summary
Assessor's office outlined plans to reassess every residential parcel and send more impact notices in 2026, increasing postage and field-work costs and offering interior inspections when appraised values rise more than 15%.
The Cole County assessor told the commission Dec. 2 that the office intends to perform a countywide residential reassessment and expects a significant rise in mailings and field inspections if values change materially.
Speaker 9 said the office plans to spread work over 12 months beginning in spring 2026, to avoid a bottleneck in 2027. He told commissioners that state law requires an impact notice when an appraisal increases by more than 15% and that the county will offer homeowners an interior inspection if they request one during the statutory period. "If someone requests an interior inspection, we can do it while we're out doing the field work," Speaker 9 said.
To support the effort, the assessor requested higher postage (an increase to about $50,000 in the assessor’s budget) and additional staffing and technology to manage field inspections and impact notices. He described plans to deploy iPads and new field-software to capture data and minimize repeated trips.
Commissioners asked for timing and comparative data and raised concerns about homeowner impacts; Speaker 5 asked whether notices might begin as early as April 2026, and Speaker 4 said he hoped for a March start. The assessor said he had cleared the timing concept with the state tax commission.
Next steps: commissioners asked the assessor to return with a detailed schedule, staffing plan and cost breakdown for the reassessment and expanded notice program before the January budget adoption.
