Allen County’s new interim County Appraiser is bringing a positive attitude with her to the new role. Iola native Danielle Louk had most recently served as the Deputy County Appraiser. She accepted the promotion after Jami Clark’s retirement from the office on Dec. 31.
Although she has already spent a year in the appraiser’s office working alongside Clark, Louk is still getting her feet wet in the appraising world. She studied at Fort Scott Community College and worked at Class Act Salon as a hairdresser prior to venturing into this new career field.
The transition from cutting hair to appraising property was one of happenstance.
“Our former county appraiser, Jami, is a friend of mine and she asked if I’d ever be interested in the role,” said Louk. “It was something I prayed about. It felt right, but it was kind of a leap of faith.”
The 29-year-old Louk married her husband, Zach, in 2017. The pair are the parents to three kids. In fact, she is currently on maternity leave with her 4-week-old infant boy. That hasn’t stopped her from diving into the new role, though. With the baby in tow, Louk has spent some of her leave in-office preparing for her transition.
LOUK IS EAGER TO learn, grow and be more involved in the community.
“A lot of people get their tax statements or evaluation notices and they don’t quite understand the process,” she said. “I hope to just be open and transparent about how the appraisal process affects your taxes and help people understand more.”
Louk can relate to the confusion. Prior to working in the appraiser’s office, she also didn’t quite know what everything meant. She began her mission of helping educate people on the matter while she was still the Deputy County Appraiser, attending town hall meetings alongside Commissioner David Lee.
These community meetings have also been a learning opportunity for Louk. “It’s been a good experience,” she said. At one such meeting, Louk noted that Sen. Caryn Tyson spoke about various bills working their way through the Legislature.
“That helps give me some insight,” she said. “Typically, we don’t get much information until it is passed. Getting the background of what is coming has been helpful.”
WORKING AS an appraiser can be taxing — no pun intended. They often hear complaints about rising property taxes in relation to appraisals. “I have to be fair and honest to everybody,” Louk said. “The hardest thing is knowing I can’t make everyone happy, but I have a job to do. I know some people will be upset and I just hope they know it’s not me, personally. I’m a people pleaser, so that’s going to be a hard aspect of the job.”
If there is one thing that she hopes she can impart upon community members, it’s that the appraiser’s office doesn’t determine what your property taxes are going to be.
The appraisal of your property is just one factor that helps calculate your property taxes.
“Just because your house is appraised at this much, doesn’t mean you pay x-amount of taxes,” she explained. “That is controlled by so many other entities within your taxing unit that I have no control over. I empathize with you about your taxes, because I have to pay them, too.”
As far as new appraisal regulations on the horizon, Louk doesn’t foresee any major changes. “There’s been lots of talk the past few years about a few different things, but nothing has come out of it,” she said. “They did change the personal property filing fees and you no longer have to file once a year if there’s no change.”
