The increase will be welcome to the county commissioners, who have dealt with a large budget deficit for the last several years. It will also result in a small increase on many property owners’ tax bills, which are based on property values.

Equalized values on residential properties climbed 4.25% over the 2018 assessment, the largest increase since 2007, in the early stages of the Great Recession and the crash of the housing market. There was also significant increases in the taxable values of commercial, industrial and agricultural properties.

Overall, the increase in taxable values in the county jumped by 2.63%

At Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, Equalization Director Ted Somers gave his annual assessment report and the news was better than what it had been for about a decade, as values were slow to rebound from the Great Recession. After seeing an increase in equalized value of 4.24% in 2007, the housing market tanked shortly after and the county saw declines of 1.77% in 2009, 5.40% in 2010, 5.55% in 2011, and 5% in 2012. Over the last few years, there have been small increases in taxable value, but Tuesday’s report shows values have not only stabilized, but appear to be rebounding.

Somers said there was a $24.2 million increase in taxable values, which would equate to an increase of about $1,300 in taxable value for a home valued at $100,000 on the market. When the county’s operating millage of 0.0048004 is factored in, it equates to the property owner’s tax bill increasing by $6.48 for the year, and $116,078 more in revenue for the county’s general fund.

“When you really break it down, it is really very minimal, but yet has a large impact on the county for operations,” Somers said.

All of the taxing units in Alpena County saw increases this year, except for a very small portion of property owners in a section of Hillman that pays taxes to Alpena County. Values there dropped nearly 9%, but only on a total taxable value of $334,525.

The City of Alpena saw its taxable value grow by 2.17% and Alpena Township by 2.84%. Green and Wilson townships had increases of a touch over 3% and Long Rapids Township had the smallest increase, with 0.4%

According to Somers, the commercial properties in the county saw taxable values increase by 2.81%, which was a strong rebound from 2018, when those values fell by 2.56%. Industrial climbed by 1.96%, and agriculture rose by slightly less than 1%.

Somers said that, overall, the new assessment report is a step in the right direction. He said he hopes the momentum seen this year will translate to further growth in future years.

“It has been a slow process, but we are seeing a rebound and I expect it will continue,” he said. “It is still going to be a slow crawl, though.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpeanews.com.