County valuation up over $3M

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Weston County received a nice surprise when the 2021 valuation came through, according to County Assessor Tina Conklin, who reported that the county’s valuation was
up almost $3.5 million from the previous year. 
“It was a wonderful surprise because we expected it (the county valuation) to be down 10%,” she said. 
The county’s valuation totaled $146,841,062 for 2021, up from $143,433,121 in 2020. 
A breakdown of the valuation shows that decreases in state assessed areas, including oil and gas, were offset by increases in locally assessed properties, including businesses, equipment and homes. 
“A lot of that was due to what the refinery reports for their equipment, and rural properties are selling higher too,” Conklin said. 
Overall, the state assessed valuation was down $1,689,369, totaling $65,866,497, while the locally assessed areas are up $5,186,310, totaling $80,974,565. 
“Oil and gas were both down; liquid pipeline saved us,” Conklin said referring to the state assessed values. 
According to information provided by the assessor’s office, liquid pipeline assessed values for Weston County are up $14,063,856, bringing the item total to $25,497,635. 
On the other hand, oil in the county is down drastically.  In 2020, the value was reported to be $28,499,073, and in 2021, the total oil value was $14,014,858, a decrease of $14,484,215. 
“This is a good thing for the county,” Conklin said. “The county will get more money from their 12 mills, and so do the entities that have mills to run their budgets.”
These entities include schools, hospitals, towns, museums, fire districts, solid waste districts and weed and pest.