Ames City Assessor 

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The assessor's office exists by city ordinance and is governed by the City Conference Board. The Conference Board has three voting units and the Mayor is the chairperson:

The assessor is responsible for assigning values to all taxable property within Ames' city limits. An on-going process of gathering and reviewing information, measuring and listing new construction and investigating sales of real estate is used to provide accurate and current values.

New values are assigned in odd-numbered years. With the exception of the agricultural class, the assessed value is supposed to be the fair market value of the property. Agricultural property is valued according to soil types. Owners who are dissatisfied with the assessed value may appeal annually, between April 16 - May 5, to the Board of Review. The Board of Review is a 5-member citizen board appointed by the Conference Board.

The City Assessor also processes applications for homestead credits, veterans' exemptions, industrial property tax abatements, urban revitalization exemptions, and various other programs. The City Assessor’s office provides a significant amount of information regarding property values, selling prices, ownership, and physical characteristics to the public and other city and county departments.

The Assessor's office is required to provide the County Auditor with a list of current values. These values are used by the auditor to calculate property taxes for the city, county and school governments. Property valued by the Ames City Assessor has a market value of approximately $3.6 billion for 2010 (which does not include ISU, IDOT, City, County, School, or Federal property).  The following chart breaks that value down by classification:

The goal of the City Assessor's office is to ensure that the assessed values used to calculate property taxes are accurate and unbiased.

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