Worried that property assessments are not keeping up with rising home prices, a re-assessment of homes in Bettendorf will start this month. Scott County has hired a Cedar Rapids company, Vanguard Appraisals, to visit more than 13,000 homes in the city.
County Assessor, Dale Denklau, says Vanguard also performed the last assessment in Bettendorf in 2001 and 2002.
The contract calls for Vanguard to make at least 3 attempts to contact home-owners, and ask to see inside. And they'll check for improvements such as remodeled kitchens and finished basements.
If they can't contact the homeowner, or are refused admittance, Denklau says Vanguard will estimate the property's value from the outside.
He says during the previous re-assessment in Bettendorf, Vanguard was able to go inside 80 to 85 per cent of the homes in the city - for the rest it was either refused, or could not contact the owner, due to vacations or illness.
The re-assessment will take about a year and-a-half, and cost Scott County 1.1 million dollars.