About the Assessor
Mission
The mission of the Scott County Assessor’s Office is to provide fair and equitable property assessments for taxation purposes as the basis for the funding of local governments and public services.
The Scott County Assessor’s Office achieves and maintains a high level of standards in property assessments through professionalism, experience, education, and communication. We strive to promote the public good by not only ensuring equitable property assessments, but also by educating the public on the assessment process as mandated by Iowa Code and administered by the Iowa Department of Revenue.
The Scott County Assessor’s staff maintains these high standards and uniformity of local property assessments by continually pursuing appraisal education courses and continuously monitoring the ever-changing real estate market and construction methods.
The assessor is charged with several administrative and statutory duties. The primary duty and responsibility is to make sure all real property within the assessor's jurisdiction is assessed except where the law provides otherwise. This includes residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural classes of property.
Real property is revalued every two years. The effective date of the assessment is the first of January of the current year. The Assessor determines either a full or partial value for new construction and improvements depending upon their state of completion on January First.
The Scott County Assessor's Office serves all of Scott County except for the City of Davenport. Both County and City Assessors are located on the fifth floor of the Scott County Administrative Center. For the Davenport City Assessor, visit their website here or call (563) 326-8659.
General Information
Assessors are appointed to their position by a Conference Board consisting of the members of the Board of Supervisors, the Mayors of all incorporated cities and a member from each school district within the jurisdiction. A city with a population of ten thousand or more may elect to have their own assessor. This is the case with the City of Davenport.
Assessors are required, by statute, to pass a state examination and complete a Continuing Education Program consisting of 150 hours of formal classroom instruction with 90 hours tested and a passing grade of 70% attained. The latter requirement must be met in order for the Assessor to be reappointed to the position every six years. The Deputy Assessor also must pass a State examination as well as successfully complete 90 hours of classroom instruction of which at least 60 hours are tested.
The Conference Board approves the Assessor's budget and after a public hearing acts on the adoption of same. The Assessor is limited, by statute, depending upon the value of his or her jurisdiction, to a levy limitation for his or her budget.
General Misconceptions
The Assessor Does Not:
- Collect Taxes
- Calculate Taxes
- Determine Tax Rate
- Set Policy for the Board of Review
The Assessor is concerned with value, not taxes. Taxing jurisdictions such as school, cities and townships, adopt budgets after public hearings. This determines the tax levy, which is the rate of taxation required to raise the money budgeted. The taxes you pay are proportionate to the value of your property compared to the total value of the taxing district in which your property is located.
More About the Assessor
Learn more about what the Assessor does from this link and attachments.
