The land valuations for Greene County for 2022 have been released and the county continues to see an overall increase.

According to a report from the Iowa Department of Management, on January 1, 2022 Greene County had a 2.23-percent increase in land valuation over the previous year to $812,771. The rural portion went up 3.58-percent, while the urban part showed a decrease of 1.92-percent. 

Greene County Real Estate and Tax Coordinator Pam Olerich says the reason why the urban land valuations had a decrease was due to a change from the state concerning commercial, industrial and railroad properties. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio any of those businesses that were valued over $150,000 were taxed at the residential rate of 54.49-percent. Any business that was under $150,000 was taxed at the commercial rollback rate of 90-percent. 

Olerich notes the rural tax increment financing value had an increase of 40.63-percent, due mostly to the new wind turbines, which she says the Board of Supervisors wanted to capture the full value for TIF. One of the largest increases for the townships was Franklin Township at 11.37-percent, and Olerich points out that was due to the construction at the NEW Cooperative site.