By John Raffel
Correspondent
ALLEGAN – Allegan County Board of Commissioners chairman Jim Storey said in his weekly newsletter that county equalization director Matt Woolford recently reported Allegan County’s equalized property values rose 13.91 percent this year when compared with 2022 values.
Storey said the total of $9,405,943,993 is a new record among the 24 townships and nine cities that comprise the property assessing units.
“Residential properties comprise 74 percent of the county’s value at $6.9 billion, followed by agriculture, 10.41 percent, $979.1 million; commercial 7.46 percent, $700.1 million; industrial 3.89 percent, $369 million, while personal property logged-in at 4.53 percemt or $425 million,”: Storey said.
He added that Woolford pointed out the nine percent growth in residential property values will trigger a rollback in applying taxes to the five percent limit established when proposal one was passed by voters in the mid-1990s.
“The county’s equalization section has been serviced by Woolford’s department in Kent County under contract to the county,” Storey said. “He is retiring from Kent and will become Allegan’s fulltime director this month.”
In a related matter, Storey pointed out setting lake levels is intensely watched by lake residents. “Several Barry County residents appeared at the Commissioners’ meeting this past week to press for a lowering of the lake,” Storey said. “Both Barry and Allegan counties’ drain commissioners are working to find a solution.”