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Gage County board discusses higher-resolution 'pictometry,' filing deadlines and protests
Summary
At the June 10 meeting, assessor staff urged consideration of higher-resolution aerial imagery (1-inch pictometry) for future revaluations, cited tradeoffs between cost and accuracy, and reminded property owners about damage-report and protest deadlines while advising they first contact the assessor’s office.
Assessor staff and board members at the Gage County Board of Equalization meeting on June 10 discussed whether to adopt higher-resolution aerial imagery, known as pictometry, for future revaluations and clarified how property owners should handle damage claims and protests.
A staff member described the technical difference between 6-inch and 1-inch pictometry, saying, "Oh, yeah, you would see things much much closer, you could see, like, the side of a building," and argued that higher resolution would reveal building details that could affect assessments. The staff member noted the tradeoff: 1-inch imagery is more expensive than the 6-inch flyovers the county has used in past cycles.
The Chair responded that assessor staff "actually have people on every site this year," saying in-person visits should make the current year's values especially accurate. The exchange left the decision to purchase higher-resolution imagery for a future budget year rather than the current one.
Speakers discussed procedural deadlines for filing damage claims and protests but gave inconsistent dates during the meeting. A staff member advised that a damage report (referred to in the meeting as "Form 425") "needs to be filed by July 15" for building damage claims, and participants referenced protest deadlines variously as June 30 and later July dates during the discussion. The Chair repeated that property owners need not wait for a formal protest and should "call the assessor's office" to try to resolve valuation issues ahead of filing a protest.
No formal vote was taken on purchasing pictometry at this meeting. Board members suggested coordinating with the city of Beatrice on any future aerial-imagery purchases to share costs. Staff said vendors sometimes re-fly areas for free after major events such as tornadoes if certain conditions are met, but there was no decision to proceed.
The board scheduled a closed session later in the meeting for security and potential litigation but did not discuss litigation details in open session.
