County Offices > Appraiser > Public Records
Appraiser

Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Monday - Friday

215 Kansas Avenue
PO Box 278
Alma, KS 66401

Phone: 785-765-3508
Fax: 785-765-3482
Email: WB_County_Appraiser@wan.kdor.state.ks.us

 

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Public Records: What is available in the County Appraiser's Office

One characteristic of an Appraiser's office is that it is a gold mine of information about real property and real property market activity in the county. All of this information is required for appraisers to do their jobs efficiently and effectively. At the same time, it can be a useful tool for a variety of other purposes and individuals both within and outside of the county appraiser's office.

All the information in the County Appraiser's Office is open to the public but for a few exceptions. One exception is that sales questionnaire information, according to Kansas law, is only available to the following people:
  1. County officials assisting the Director of Property Valuation in developing information for Real Estate Sales Ratio Study;
  2. Any property owner, or the owner's representative, for prosecuting an appeal or for determining whether to make such an appeal, but limited to those questionnaires concerning the same constitutionally prescribed subclass of property as that of such owner's property;
  3. The County Appraiser and appraisers employed by the county for the appraisal of property located within the county;
  4. Appraisers licensed or certified pursuant to K.S.A. 58-4101 et seq., and amendments thereto, for appraisal of property and preparation of appraisal reports;
  5. The County Appraiser or the appraiser's designee, hearing officers or panel appointed pursuant to K.S.A. 79-1602 or section 7, and amendments thereto, and the State Board of Tax Appeals for conducting valuation appeal proceedings;
  6. The Board of County Commissioners for conducting any of the Board's statutorily prescribed duties; and
  7. The Director of Property Valuation for conducting any of the Director's statutorily prescribed duties.


A second exception is income and expense information that is provided by commercial property owners in the county.  This information is used by county personnel to develop income models, but is not open to public inspection.

The types of public information that is available in the appraiser's office include: aerial photography and parcel identification maps; property characteristics, such as building size, age, style, etc.; property owner's names and addresses; property situs addresses; valuation history, both market value and assessed value; agricultural land use and soil type; and personal property records and guides, etc.

The above information is stored in the county's computer system and, in most cases, in paper form. The real property records are filed by parcel identification number. A record can be located by using either the owner's name, address or parcel identification number. Personal property records are filed by owner's name, personal property number and political township.

Taxpayers can get a copy of their records at no charge.  A fee is charged if taxpayers request copies of comparable parcels.  Copies of most records can be provided the day they are requested.  However, requests that require research, a large amount of copying, or are on computer tape or in storage will be available within three working days of the request.