The tax protests are coming.

Marion Johnson, Douglas County appraiser, can see them looming five weeks away: The 1,800 or so people who will claim that the county has overvalued their properties, then ask for informal hearings to get the tax-calculating numbers reduced.

Such moves are easy to predict, Johnson said, as many neighborhoods brace for property-value increases of 8 percent to 10 percent. Some commercial areas will see spikes of 10 percent to 15 percent.

Johnson will mail the county’s 35,000 change-of-value notices Friday, just before the phones start ringing and appeal forms start returning.

The value of rising valuations, after all, is in the eyes of the property owner.

“It’s only good if you want to sell,” Johnson told Douglas County commissioners Monday. “Otherwise, it’s a burden.”

The valuations — used by county officials to calculate annual property tax bills — are unofficial, pending appeals. Property owners have until 5 p.m. April 7 to file a request for an informal hearing.

The hearings begin March 24 and are scheduled to be finished by May 15.

¢ 6News video: Officials brace for valuation appeals¢ County details valuation increases (3-3-03)¢ Property values for Douglas County

This year the average Lawrence home is valued at $154,841, according to the appraiser’s office. That’s up 8.8 percent from the $142,293 average of a year ago.

The average value for a home in Douglas County is $154,437, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier.

“We’re all a lot wealthier this morning than we were when we went to bed last night,” Commissioner Jere McElhaney said, before Johnson’s presentation.

Entry-level homes generally saw the biggest value increases, when measured by percentage, Johnson said.

Increases of 8 percent to 10 percent are not uncommon for homes valued below $150,000, Johnson said, because that’s the hottest market in town. Few homes valued at $300,000 or more saw increases of more than 6 percent.

Given the forces of supply and demand, there’s no indication of such trends letting up, said Bob Johnson, commission chairman.

“If you can’t buy a lot in Lawrence — or Baldwin or Eudora or (elsewhere in) Douglas County — for less than $30,000, you are hard-pressed to build a house for less than $125,000,” he said.