Role of the County Appraiser

The County Appraiser is an appointed position by the Marion County Board of Commissioners. The County Appraiser and his or her staff is assigned the task to discover, list, and appraise all taxable and exempt real and personal property located in Marion County for property tax purposes. These responsibilities are directed in accordance with the State constitution, laws and directives that are issued by the Property Valuation Division of the Department of Revenue, State of Kansas. This is to assist the Appraiser in valuing all property in an equal and uniform manner. Also, the office provides GIS mapping services for both the public and the county.

Real and personal property is appraised as of January 1st, every year. All property is valued at “fair market value” with the exception of agricultural land, business personal property, machinery and equipment. RV’s, etc. Agricultural land is appraised at a “use value” based on productivity and utilizing an eight year moving average of reported income and expense. There is about a two-year delay before current year’s commodity prices and expenses are figured in the determination of the “use values”. The Property Valuation Division sets the agricultural land values as mandated by K.S.A. 79-1476. Business personal property, machinery and equipment are valued on a formula set forth in Kansas law. RV’s are valued under the “taxed when tagged” category similar to motor vehicles tagged at 12,000 lbs.

“Fair market value” is defined as the amount of money a well-informed buyer would pay and a well-informed seller would accept for property in an open and competitive market without any outside influences.