The invisible line separating Douglas and Sarpy County divides what city you live in, who you vote for, also determines your taxes. Sarpy County officials say if you live there you're paying more than your fair share thanks to differing property valuations.
“Sarpy County residents are paying an unfair amount of taxes in comparison to their Douglas County neighbors,” said Sarpy County Board Chairman Don Kelly.
Kelly points to the common levys shared between the two counties like Omaha Public Schools, Metro Community College, National Resource District to name a few.
This stems from Douglas County’s 93-percent on assessed values compared to Sarpy County’s 96-percent.
“What I would find is Don Kelly and his family in Sarpy County is will be paying about 200-dollars more than the Don Kelly that lived in Douglas County,” said Kelly.
Sarpy County assessor Dan Pittman said there’s no state law on the books adjusting for a common levy.
“If you have the same levy the guy with a higher market value is going to pay more taxes,” said Pittman.
While Douglas County has lowered its assessed values per state-order, Sarpy County's valuations have remained steady due to yearly ‘market updates’.
“Small changes in assessed value seem to be more understandable to property owners, large changes need a lot of explanation,” said Pittman.
But what does need an explanation for Sarpy County Commissioner Jim Warren is how the state should handle this to set a standard.
“At least the state should come in and say you need to re-assess only every 5 years, and you need to shoot at the low end of the target not the mid-range of the target,” said Warren.
So the commissioners wrote a letter wanting the state to be involved, “And the response back was it’s not our problem, it’s your problem,” said Warren.
If you're a Douglas Country resident and want to see your assessed valuation, click here: http://douglascone.wgxtreme.com/
If you're a Sarpy County resident and want to see your assessed valuation, click here: http://www.sarpy.com/sarpyproperty/
