Lancaster County Assessor / Register of Deeds

Norman H. Agena

555 South 10th Street, Room 102, Lincoln, NE 68508
Hours: 7:30am to 4:30pm
Phone: (402)441-7463
Fax: (402)441-8759
Email: assessor@lancaster.ne.gov

• Beginning on January 15, Preliminary 2016 Real Property Values will be posted on the Lancaster County Assessor’s website: orion.lancaster.ne.gov/Appraisal/PublicAccess/ or lancaster.ne.gov/ (Keyword/Search: AssessorValue)

• Property owners that would like to schedule an appointment for an informal, in-person valuation hearing with a staff appraiser need to contact the Assessor’s Office no later than February 1

• On-line: Select your property from the website above and click on “Appeal”; or

• By phone at 402-441-7463

(Note: If you wish to have a hearing for multiple properties, you must schedule by phone, as the on-line option is for single-property appointments only)

• The informal hearings will begin January 15 and run through March 1. The Assessor’s Office will post updated values on the website on or before March 25

• Final valuations will appear on the website by June 1, and any property owner whose valuation has changed from 2015 will also be mailed a notice of their 2016 assessed value at that time

• The “formal” valuation protest period of June 1 through June 30 remains unchanged. Information regarding the formal protest process in June will be available on the County Clerk’s website during the month of May

Norm Agena, Assessor/Register of Deeds

The Assessor/Register of Deeds is an elected official who has general supervision over and the direction of the assessment of all property in Lancaster County for taxation purposes.

The office is responsible for establishing equalized and accurate market values for all real property. The office has a staff of professional appraisers and support staff that are responsible for attaining that goal. We maintain a complete file of sale data on all types of property and each sale is reviewed before it is included in our sale database.

We are responsible for maintaining personal property accounts for all businesses and farmers who own depreciable tangible personal property, administering the Homestead Exemption program, and reviewing all exemption applications filed by religious, charitable, educational, and cemetery organizations. We are also required to attend all meetings of the Lancaster County Board of Equalization.

We have established a Geographic Information System, which has improved our cadastral mapping capabilities, and assists us in the process of establishing equalized market values.

The office is required to prepare abstracts of assessment and certification of taxes levied for the Nebraska Department of Revenue. We also prepare the annual tax roll for the County Treasurer.

The Register of Deeds is responsible for receiving, recording, and preserving all land records, including deeds, mortgages, deeds of trust, assignments, releases, liens, UCC filings, plats, and other instruments submitted for recording.

The County Assessor/Register of Deeds Office does not levy, nor collect taxes. Once the taxing jurisdictions, such as school districts and local governments (County Board, city council, fire districts etc.) set their budgets, the tax levies are set by the County Board of Commissioners. The County Treasurer is responsible for the collection of property taxes.

The mission of The County Assessor/Register of Deeds Office is to achieve equalization among all classes of property by maintaining the highest standards in mass appraisal practices and maintaining accurate and complete property and land records. We are guided by the goals of providing quality service to the public, developing high-performance employees through continuing education and training, and by efficiently managing county growth through the use of technological tools which expedite the work flow and dissemination of information to the public.