Polk County employee challenges county's assessments of 23 properties
To the annoyance of Polk County Assessor Randy Ripperger, an employee of another county office is appealing almost two dozen property valuations ― even though he owns none of the properties.
Deputy Auditor Carl Wiederaenders filed the protests with Ripperger's office April 28, challenging its valuation of 23 properties whose valuation he said was at odds with their recent sales prices. Most of the appeals asked for homes sold for $1 million or more to be assessed at higher valuations, though in a few cases, he asked that assessments be lowered.
Ripperger said Wiederaenders lives in Des Moines and therefore has a legal right to file the appeals. But the assessor clearly wasn't happy about them, saying the challenges by a county employee give Polk County a "black eye."
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"We're better than that," Ripperger said. "We're here to serve the public and 99% of the Polk County workers work hard at their job. They do a good job of serving the public. This kind of goes against that."
Assessor: only one other non-owner appeal in more than four decades
Ripperger said that in his 43 years working for Polk County, he can recall only one other time when citizens protested a property valuation that was not their own. That was decades ago, when the Prairie Meadows Casino, a county-owned nonprofit, was being built, and residents and the Southeast Polk Community School District thought the property should be taxable, he said.
"It was made exempt by the assessor at that time," Ripperger said. "They thought it should be made taxable, and in the end it was made taxable based on that appeal. I think that's the only time I've ever seen this code section used."
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Wiederaenders' boss, Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald, said in an email that Wiederaenders protested the assessments "as a private citizen on his own time and not during work hours or using work equipment." Asked if the challenge reflected any animosity between the auditor's and assessor's offices, he wrote, "I feel like I have a good working relationship with all offices in Polk County, including the Assessor’s Office."
The appeals will be heard by the assessor's board of review.
Auditor employee says assessments on costly properties out of whack
Wiederaenders said he objected to assessments some of which were "more than 30% or 40% lower than the sold price."
"The citizens of Polk County deserve an equitable system that treats its residents the same way," Wiederaenders said in an email. "These examples will demonstrate the inequities and lead to a more fair and equitable system for all Polk County taxpayers."
Wiederaenders sent copies of the protest forms to the property owners with no explanation and no return address on the envelope, Ripperger said.
"The people that received those notices thought they came from my office," Ripperger said. "They've been calling my office upset. We just mailed 187,000 assessment notices on March 31, and the last thing we're going to do is come out and raise them again in less than a couple months."
Seven of the 19 homes Wiederaenders asked to be reassessed were among the 11 most expensive sold in the Des Moines metro last year. Many are in the Glen Oaks development in West Des Moines. Some are in Johnston and Urbandale. At least one is in Des Moines.
Appeals include 2022's most expensive Des Moines metro home sale
In one case Wiederaenders asked the board to raise the assessment of a home on Oak Brook Drive in Urbandale's Deer Creek neighborhood by more than $1.3 million. Sold along with five out lots on Aug. 31 for $4 million, it was the costliest single-family home purchased in the metro last year. The Polk County Assessor's Office valued the home at $2.27 million.
Spotlighted in the Register, the home, built in 2012, has 4,078 square feet of living space, including six bedrooms and bathrooms, an elevator, a large theater room and a geothermal heating and air conditioning system. The home also features a sauna, workout room and executive office with a conference room. The glass walls on its patios retract, and there is a massive stone-accented wine cellar.
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"According to Iowa Code, assessments are required to be at 100% of the fair market value, unless otherwise provided by the Code of Iowa in its condition as of Jan. 1," Wiederaenders wrote in the appeal petition. "Fair market value is a legal term defined as the most probable price which a property would bring on the open market given prudent, knowledgeable and willing buyers and sellers. Fair market value is the standard by which the fairness of all assessments is judged."
Appeals also include a home that allegedly was overvalued
Conversely, Wiederaenders wrote that a home on Fuller Road in West Des Moines was overvalued. It was assessed at $1.37 million but sold for $1.14 million on May 26, 2022.
"This $218,300 proposed increase in assessment versus the sale price is not consistent with other properties," Wiederaenders wrote "The assessed value should be $1,150,000."
He also asked that four commercial properties be reassessed. Wiederaenders noted in the appeal that a shopping complex at 3701 86th St. in Urbandale, formerly the home of America’s Incredible Pizza, was valued at $14.3 million but sold for $16.25 million on June 9.
"The fair market value of this property was established on June 9, 2022 in the amount of $16,250,000," Wiederaenders wrote in the appeal petition.
Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Polk County employee challenges Polk's assessments of 23 properties
