PALMER — Property owners in Mat-Su will likely see higher tax assessments on their annual notices after the average value of single-family homes rose 7.41% across the region last year, borough officials said Tuesday.
The increase comes alongside a 15% bump in property values for land, large-acreage homesteads, and some commercial areas. That change is part of a borough effort to correct longstanding discrepancies between previous assessments and actual market values, officials said.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough assessment staff presented the annual update to the Mat-Su Assembly during a regular meeting Tuesday.
Demand for vacant land also remains strong, officials said. Of the 31,321 parcels classified as vacant at the time of the 2024 assessment survey, 155 now have new structures, according to borough data.
State law requires the borough to align assessed values with actual market values, officials said.
Property tax postcard notices will be mailed Jan. 29. Tax bills are due this summer, once the borough budget sets the annual rate.
About 4.9% of property owners in the borough receive a senior or disabled veteran property tax exemption and pay well below the assessed value, officials said.
Property values in Mat-Su are determined using a combination of data from recent sales of similar properties and in-person surveys, Querin told the assembly.
Because assessors may not be fully aware of all details related to each structure or property, residents who disagree with their assessment are encouraged to contact the borough, he said. Most concerns can be addressed by phone, though formal appeals are also an option.
“Call our office if you have any concerns about your assessed value — call us first before you file the appeal, because we can resolve a lot of issues before even having to file that appeal,” Querin said. “It’s very important that they call our office first.”
Questions and formal appeals must be submitted by Feb. 27. Last year, 138 residents filed appeals, borough data show. Of those, 31 proceeded to a hearing, and four were adjusted.
The 15% blanket increase in assessed values for land is the first step in a six-year borough plan to gradually reassess all property, Borough Manager Mike Brown said.
A recent borough study of land east of the Matanuska River, including the Butte area, found those parcels were valued at about 64% below their actual market value, Brown said. A broader snapshot showed property values across the borough were about half of what they should be, he said.
Rather than apply all increases at once, the borough plans to reassess different regions over the next six years, Querin said. While assessments will likely continue rising during that process, a detailed schedule has not been finalized, Brown said.
The mismatch between assessed and market values is a decades-old issue that has worsened over time, Brown said in an interview Wednesday. What began as a data problem has grown into a systemic challenge that is politically difficult to fix, he said.
“It just gradually, iteratively, got worse,” he said. “It's a hard problem to solve, so you just want to ignore it — I want to ignore it, frankly. But when state law tells you [assessments] should be fair and true, you have to work to that.”
While the reassessment affects all land, the 15% increase will be most noticeable for owners of large properties. For typical residential lots, calculations for structures and land tend to offset each other, he said, resulting in the 7.41% average increase announced this week.
The borough’s next step is to use Tuesday’s assessment update and upcoming notices to calculate this year’s property tax rates.
Brown said his team is working to propose a budget that includes a lower mill rate to help prevent a steep rise in tax bills. Still, he knows frustration over taxes may continue regardless.
“The larger issue of disdain for property taxes isn't an assessment issue,” he told the assembly Tuesday. “I don't know how else to say it — it's a different problem.”
This story originally appeared in the Mat-Su Sentinel and is republished here with permission.
