Forgone revenue through property tax exemptions grows

PALMER — At the annual Property Appraisal report to the Mat-Su Borough Assembly on Tuesday, assessor Brad Pickett pointed to revenue the borough didn’t pick up due to exemptions.

Property tax exemptions granted by the borough includes those to churches, the elderly and disabled veterans. As the local population ages, those exemptions have grown, Pickett said, and amounted to around $3 billion in forgone property tax revenue over the last year.

Pickett said he started tracking exemptions a few years ago.

“That particular program we have, since conception, it’s grown very quickly,” Pickett said. He added, “We are exempting more than most boroughs. Only Kenai is exempting more than us.”

Pickett said that currently, single-family homes in areas where there is a lot of comparative data for market value are “bearing the brunt of the tax burden,” and that improved data and assessment work could distribute that more evenly.

But he also bemoaned a staffing level that’s lower than it is for other property appraisal departments throughout the state, in an area where a lot of square mileage to cover with no zoning makes it difficult to track properties in the first place.

“If we were going to have enough staff to properly do our job, we would have to double or triple our staff,” Pickett said. “This is a problem nation-wide. Property tax assessment is an area people don’t want to throw a lot of money at to do assessments accurately for some reason.”

Pickett said his department works at a rate of about 3,654 parcels per staff member per year.

“We’re up against a tough task here,” he said.

Overall, Pickett reported a flattening market for the Mat-Su, with the average increase in value for local properties hitting just 1.24 percent higher than last year’s values. Overall new construction was slightly lower in the Valley, with the exception of new multifamily housing units, which increased slightly.

Pickett said the borough tries to work with people on adjustments to the assessed values if they disagree with their appraisal. He said that the department is concerned with getting an accurate assessment, and that such matters are in the majority of cases resolved before going to appeals.

Pickett said improvements to technology, such as the use of aerial mapping, could help assessors work more accurately and efficiently in the long-run.

He said assessors started working with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to improve data collection and entry two weeks ago. And, he’s currently working on rolling out a pilot project this year that would be a precursor to a future go-mobile program, which will enable assessors to access and enter data easily while out in the field.

“We don’t have permits, so we have to drive every road looking for changes,” Pickett said. “Technology is a huge savings for us.”