Park County valuation drops

Posted 6/17/10

“This isn't bad at all,” said Park County Assessor Rip Brandt. “This just puts us back to where we were two years ago.”

The county's assessed valuation was $721 million in 2007 and $778 million in 2008 before hitting the …

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Park County valuation drops

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But not as much as fearedPark County's total assessed valuation has dropped significantly from last year — though not as steeply as some had feared.Numbers finalized on Wednesday say that Park County is worth $741,246,235 this year. That would be a 28 percent decrease from 2009, which saw a record-high valuation of more than $1.033 billion.

“This isn't bad at all,” said Park County Assessor Rip Brandt. “This just puts us back to where we were two years ago.”

The county's assessed valuation was $721 million in 2007 and $778 million in 2008 before hitting the $1 billion mark last year.

Last year, the state Department of Revenue warned counties to plan for drops of potentially 40 percent or more with oil and gas prices sinking. But the recently-completed valuation beats even revised estimates from the Wyoming Consensus Revenue Estimate Group this winter, which predicted a 31 percent drop for Park County.

The assessed valuation is used as the basis for property tax collections. Various public agencies — school districts, the county government, municipalities, cemeteries, hospitals and fire districts — are allowed to levy up to a certain number of mills on the assessed value of property. Each mill is essentially a 0.1 percent tax on assessed valuation. How many mills each resident pays varies depending on which districts they live in.

If local officials chose to keep last year's average mill levy of 71.3 mills, a $741.2 million valuation would yield $52.85 million in Park County property taxes — about $20 million less than last year.

Brandt said the decrease should not create severe budget problems.

“That spike that we had last year was money in the bank,” said Brandt. “If they (local governments) used it well, there should be no problems.”

The dip this year is due almost entirely to a fall in oil and gas prices, which spiked in 2008 on record high prices. Each year's valuation is based on data from the prior year — so the 2010 valuation is based on what happened in 2009.

Oil and gas valuations fell a combined 53 percent — oil dropped from $603.7 million to $368.8 million and the gas valuation fell by more than two-thirds, from $75.2 million to $25 million.

Local-assessed value, which includes properties such as homes, businesses, equipment and agricultural lands, sunk only slightly, from $336.9 million to $330 million.

“Our local is staying pretty solid,” said Brandt, saying that county home valuations — which had risen in recent years — have generally stabilized.

The number of verified home sales last year dropped to 278 from 360 in 2008.

“It (home sales) was down some, but not as much as I thought it would,” said Brandt, adding that the sales, “seemed to be in the more affordable range,” with $400,000-type houses not selling as well.

The valuation for the city of Powell, which obviously does not include any oil and gas development, actually rose slightly to $37.5 million. Brandt said the roughly 1 percent rise was due to an increased valuation of utilities in the city.

The city of Cody's valuation decreased by about 3 percent, to just under $107.9 million.

Park County School District No. 1's assessed valuation dropped some $89.4 million, to $216.9 million.

The Powell Hospital District's assessed valuation fell about 28 percent to $190,969,771, while West Park Hospital's dropped similarly to $510,101,324.

Brandt, who is in his final year as assessor, is hopeful for the future.

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