Floyd County Assessor Bruce Hovden recently announced that homeowners wanting to sign up for the Homestead Credit and Military Exemption can now do that with a phone call or email. In the past, any new homebuyer that wanted to receive the Homestead Property Tax Credit would need to visit the assessor’s office in person. That was particularly difficult for properties that were purchased near the July 1 deadline each year. Last month the Floyd County Supervisors passed a resolution allowing these credits to be sent to property owners by mail or email.
Starting this month, anyone who would like to sign up for the Homestead Credit or Military Exemption should contact the assessor’s office. An application will then be sent to the homeowner, and they will be able to sign the application, and then scan and email it back, or put it in an envelope and mail it back to the assessor’s office.
Hovden stated “We’ve heard from a lot of people about the difficulty of making it to the courthouse between 8:00 and 4:30 to sign up for these credits. After doing some research, we approached the Supervisors for a resolution to allow this. This should be particularly helpful to residents at the edges of the county (like in Nora Springs, Rockford and Marble Rock). With a phone call or email, we’ll send them the application, and they won’t have to make the trip to the courthouse anymore.
The Homestead Credit is a one-time signup, so after you sign up once, it continues until you move or sell the home. The Homestead Credit is worth around $176.00 in Charles City and around $120.00 in township areas. The Military Exemption is worth around $67.00 a year in the cities and around $46.00 a year in the township area. Property owners with questions are encouraged to contact the county assessor’s office at (641) 257-6152.
