The Appraisers continually view all real property in the County to evaluate the value of the improvements on land, such as houses and other attachments. If you make a substantial improvement to your home or build a new building on the land, this should be reported to the Assessor.

The Appraisers use several factors to arrive at the appraised value of real property. Personal property is chiefly appraised by a computer. For example, the make and model of a vehicle is about all of the information that the computer needs to set the appraised value.

However, with real estate, the Appraisers must consider the size of the lot or parcel of land; its location (accessibility to roads, utilities and retail businesses); its type (flat, hilly, pasture, developed, undeveloped, in or out of flood plain and so on); and whether it has improvements on it.

If the parcel has improvements, such as a dwelling house, barn or other building, the Appraisers will measure the buildings, view the type of building (constructed with wood or masonry, one or more floor levels); and evaluate the building's age and condition.

All appraisals by the Assessor's Office are appealable to the Board of Equalization and Review, which is a special function of the Lincoln County Commission and which meets on specified days during the month of February of each year.

The following duties are hereby imposed upon every assessor of this state:

(1) He shall annually complete a sales ratio analysis in a manner prescribed by the state tax commissioner.

(2) He shall present to the tax commissioner a list of real property transfers of the prior assessment year by December first annually.

(3) He shall on or before December first of each year supply a list of new construction and improvements exceeding one thousand dollars of the previous assessment year on forms prescribed by the state tax commissioner.

(4) He shall on or before December first of each year supply a list of new businesses added to the assessment rolls and businesses that have discontinued operations in the previous assessment year and been removed from the assessment rolls.

(5) He shall provide assistance to the tax commissioner to disseminate information with respect to the taxation, classification and valuation of nonutility and public utility property to the end that all property shall be more equally and uniformly assessed throughout the state.

(6) He shall annually assist the tax commissioner in determining the current use of such real property in his county as the tax commissioner may require to accomplish a uniform appraisal and assessment of real property.

The duties hereinbefore listed must be substantially completed by the assessor no later than the first day of November of each year, and each assessor shall certify to the tax commissioner that he has substantially completed such duties in accordance with requirements of the tax commissioner. If at this time there has been substantial completion of the above duties to the satisfaction of the tax commissioner, the tax commissioner shall, but no later than the fifteenth day of November of each year, certify to the county commission that the assessor has substantially performed these duties, and is entitled to the remuneration provided for in section six-b of this article.