Baxter County Property Tax Calculator
Rate basis: Arkansas DFA Assessment Coordination Division, 2025 Millage Report (2026 Collections), issued March 2026.
How Baxter County property taxes are calculated
Arkansas assesses real property at 20% of market value. Baxter County then multiplies that assessed value by the total millage for the parcel's school district and city, where one mill equals $1 of tax per $1,000 of assessed value. The homestead credit is applied to the result and is limited to a qualifying primary residence.
Here is the working for a $200,000 home in Norfork inside the Norfork #61 district, which carries a combined 52.79 mills for 2026 collections, the highest rate in the county:
- $200,000 market value times 20% equals $40,000 assessed value.
- $40,000 times 52.79 divided by 1,000 equals $2,111.60 tax before credit.
- Subtract the $600 homestead credit to reach $1,511.60 estimated annual tax.
Move the same house to a rural Mountain View address in the Mountain View #30 district at 37.41 mills and the tax before credit falls to $1,496.40, or $896.40 after the credit. Same market value, $615.20 less per year. Nothing about the house changed; only the district and city did.
Baxter County millage rates by district and city
Each row below is a taxing combination published for Baxter County for 2026 collections. Each line's school, city and county levies resolve to the overall figure. Baxter County has six school districts and eight millage-levying cities, and the city levies vary more here than in almost any other county in this batch.
| School district | City or area | School | City | County | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cotter #60 | Rural | 32.67 | 0 | 8.5 | 41.17 |
| Cotter #60 | Cotter | 32.67 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 50.17 |
| Cotter #60 | Gassville | 32.67 | 5.0 | 8.5 | 46.17 |
| Mountain Home #9 | Rural | 32.16 | 0 | 8.5 | 40.66 |
| Mountain Home #9 | Gassville | 32.16 | 5.0 | 8.5 | 45.66 |
| Mountain Home #9 | Lakeview | 32.16 | 3.0 | 8.5 | 43.66 |
| Mountain Home #9 | Mtn. Home | 32.16 | 2.0 | 8.5 | 42.66 |
| Norfork #61 | Rural | 37.39 | 0 | 8.5 | 45.89 |
| Norfork #61 | Briarcliff | 37.39 | 5.0 | 8.5 | 50.89 |
| Norfork #61 | Norfork | 37.39 | 6.9 | 8.5 | 52.79 |
| Norfork #61 | Salesville | 37.39 | 5.0 | 8.5 | 50.89 |
| Calico Rock #50 | Rural | 42.3 | 0 | 8.5 | 50.8 |
| Mountain View #30 | Rural | 28.91 | 0 | 8.5 | 37.41 |
| Mountain View #30 | Big Flat | 28.91 | 3.5 | 8.5 | 40.91 |
| Viola #15 | Rural | 40.62 | 0 | 8.5 | 49.12 |
| County average | 34.46 | 4.93 | 8.50 | 45.92 |
Baxter County rows taken from the Arkansas DFA Assessment Coordination Division 2025 Millage Report, covering 2026 collections and issued March 2026. The county levy is 8.5 mills everywhere in Baxter County, but it is assembled differently for city and rural parcels.
Why two Baxter County homes can have different tax bills
Baxter County has the lowest county average on this site at 45.92 mills, and it also has the single widest spread of any county in this batch: 37.41 mills at the bottom against 52.79 at the top, a 15.38 mill gap. Almost all of that comes from the school district, plus a set of city levies that vary far more than they do elsewhere.
- The county seat is not the expensive address. Mountain Home city levies just 2.0 mills, the lowest city rate in Baxter County. Combined with the Mountain Home #9 school district and the 8.5 mill county levy, a Mountain Home city address reaches 42.66 mills, the cheapest actual city address in the county and 10.13 mills below Norfork. On a $200,000 home that is $405.20 a year.
- Norfork is the top of the range. Norfork levies 6.9 mills, of which 5.0 is general city tax and 1.9 is a streets levy, and it sits in the Norfork #61 district which carries 37.39 school mills. The result is 52.79 mills overall, the highest published rate in Baxter County.
- Cotter has the highest city levy. Cotter levies 9.0 mills, split into 5.0 general and 4.0 mills for the fire department, the largest city levy in the county. Cotter sits in the cheaper Cotter #60 school district at 32.67 mills, which is why a Cotter address lands at 50.17 rather than at the top of the range.
- Big Flat carries the lowest overall combination with a city. Big Flat levies 3.5 mills inside the Mountain View #30 district, the cheapest school district in the county at 28.91 mills, producing 40.91 mills overall. A rural Mountain View parcel drops further to 37.41.
- One district, three different city outcomes. Mountain Home #9 is the clearest illustration. A rural parcel in that district pays 40.66 mills, a Lakeview address pays 43.66 because Lakeview levies 3.0 mills, and a Mountain Home city address pays 42.66 because the city levies 2.0.
The county levy is 8.5 mills everywhere in Baxter County, but it is not assembled the same way for every parcel. The state report shows city parcels paying 1.35 mills in road money allotted to the city, 2.8 mills county general, 1.35 mills county road, 1.0 mill library and 2.0 mills for the college. Rural parcels pay 2.8 mills general, 2.7 mills county road, 1.0 mill library and 2.0 mills college. The totals match at 8.5, but the road money is routed differently depending on whether you are inside a city, which is worth knowing if you ever compare your own bill against a neighbour's across a city limit.
Mountain Home, Norfork, Cotter and the rest of Baxter County
Baxter County is a retirement and lake county, and the tax geography follows the water and the towns around it.
Mountain Home
Mountain Home is the county seat, holds the assessor and collector offices, and carries the lowest city levy in the county at 2.0 mills. A Mountain Home city address pays 42.66 mills, which is less than any other incorporated place in Baxter County and less than some rural addresses in other districts. That is unusual: the county seat is normally the most taxed address, not the least.
Norfork and Salesville
Norfork has the highest city rate at 6.9 mills and Salesville levies 5.0 mills. Both sit inside the Norfork #61 school district, the second most expensive in the county at 37.39 mills, so both towns land above 50 mills. Norfork reaches 52.79 overall and Salesville 50.89. The gap between the two neighbours is exactly the 1.9 mill Norfork streets levy.
Cotter and Gassville
Cotter levies the county's highest city rate at 9.0 mills but sits in the cheap Cotter #60 district at 32.67 school mills, giving an overall 50.17. Gassville appears in two districts: 46.17 mills inside Cotter #60 and 45.66 inside Mountain Home #9. Gassville is one of the few cities in the county that pays 5.0 mills and still ends up below the county average plus city.
Big Flat, Briarcliff and Lakeview
These are the smaller incorporated places. Big Flat sits in the Mountain View #30 district and levies 3.5 mills, giving the lowest city combination in the county at 40.91 mills. Lakeview levies 3.0 mills inside Mountain Home #9 for 43.66 overall. Briarcliff levies 5.0 mills inside Norfork #61 for 50.89.
Baxter County Assessor
Official name: Baxter County Assessor's Office. Assessor: Jayme Nicholson Johnson. The assessor appraises and assesses all personal, business and real property, confirms legal descriptions and transfers ownership on deeds, transfers mobile home and boat dock ownership, maintains the county GIS parcel layers, provides 911 addresses, and handles homestead and freeze applications. Tax collection sits with the collector, not the assessor.
Two things here are genuinely unusual. First, the assessor's office and the assessor's GIS and 911 addressing office keep different hours: the main office runs a standard five day week, while the addressing office runs four longer days and is closed on Friday. If you need a 911 address or a GIS question answered, Friday is the wrong day to go. Second, the assessor states that she or her chief deputy attends all Equalization Board hearings personally, which is not something every county publishes.
Sources: Baxter County Assessor's Office and the Arkansas DFA county officials directory. For the office split in general, see Arkansas property tax assessor versus collector.
Baxter County Collector
Official name: Baxter County Collector's Office. Collector: Teresa Smith. The collector bills and collects county, municipal, school and improvement district taxes and turns the revenue over to the county treasurer at least once a month. Valuation is the assessor's function, not the collector's.
Baxter County is one of the counties on this site that explicitly documents installment payments: taxpayers may pay in installments beginning the first business day in March through October 15, which spreads the bill across the year rather than requiring a lump sum. On receipts, the collector stopped printing them automatically in 2016. If you mail a payment and want a receipt, include an email address or a self addressed stamped envelope, or opt in to e-statements and e-receipts by giving the office your contact details.
How to look up a Baxter County parcel and its tax
Baxter County runs the property search and the tax record search on two separate platforms, and the county homepage links to both. The assessor's own site adds a third route for personal property assessment.
- Start with the actDataScout real property search for Baxter County, which the county links from its own homepage as its online property search. Search by owner name, address or parcel number.
- Look at the market value and the assessed value side by side. The assessed number is ordinarily 20% of market value unless an Amendment 79 cap or an age 65 freeze applies.
- Note the school district and the city or area shown. Baxter County school district boundaries are not aligned with city limits, so the same town can appear under two districts, as Gassville does. That combination picks the row in the millage table above.
- For what was billed and paid, use the ARCountyData tax record search for Baxter County, which the collector's office sponsors as a free public search covering both current and delinquent books.
- To pay, use the payment gateway linked from the county homepage and the collector's page. The county also promotes a property fraud alert service on its homepage, which is worth signing up for if you own property you do not occupy.
Sources: Baxter County online property search links, Baxter County real property search on actDataScout and Baxter County tax record search.
Paying Baxter County property taxes
Baxter County tax books run from the first business day in March through October 15. The collector's page is unusually explicit about what happens next: taxes unpaid by the fifteenth day of October are delinquent and the collector extends a 10% penalty. Before December 1 each year the collector prepares a list of delinquent real and personal property taxes and delivers it to a legal newspaper in the county, which must publish it within seven days.
Payment methods documented by the county
- Online: the collector's page and the county homepage both link a payment gateway, with a separate mobile version of the same service.
- In person: at #8 East 7th Street, Mountain Home, across from the courthouse, Monday to Friday 8:00 to 4:30.
- Installments: accepted from the first business day in March through October 15, so you can pay down the bill in stages rather than all at once.
- By mail: to the collector's office. Include an email address or a self addressed stamped envelope if you want a receipt.
Baxter County's delinquent list is published in the local newspaper rather than only posted online, which is a level of exposure that not every county's process creates. If a bill is genuinely unpaid, the publication step happens before December 1 of the collection year. For the statewide picture on deadlines and what follows delinquency, see Arkansas property tax due dates and Arkansas delinquent property tax redemption. The county does not publish a card or convenience fee amount on the pages checked for this page.
Homestead credit in Baxter County
The Arkansas homestead credit reduces the property tax on a qualifying primary residence. It is not automatic, and in Baxter County you apply through the assessor's office at #6 East 7th Street, Mountain Home. The county assessor handles homestead and over 65 or disability freeze applications as one of the office's listed functions.
The Baxter County assessor's homestead page currently advertises a maximum of $425. That figure is out of date: it predates Act 330 of 2025, which raised the maximum to $600 for the 2026 tax bills used in the calculator on this page, and HB1103, Act 174 of 2026, which raises it again to $675 for tax bills from 2027. Use $600 for a bill you pay now and $675 for the bill that follows. The application sequence is set out in how to apply for the Arkansas homestead credit.
One Baxter County specific warning is worth repeating because the county states it plainly: only one homestead is permitted nationwide, and the penalty for a duplicate homestead claim is double the value received. Baxter County draws a large retirement population with property in more than one state, so this is a live risk here rather than a theoretical one. The Amendment 79 protections also apply as they do statewide: a 5% annual cap on taxable value increases for a primary residence, 10% for other real property, and a freeze for owners 65 or older or disabled. The freeze holds value rather than tax, so a millage increase can still raise the bill.
Sources: Baxter County Assessor's Office and Arkansas DFA property tax relief.
Appealing a Baxter County assessment
Start with the assessor. The Baxter County assessor's office lists itself as available for value questions on (870) 425-3453, and the office notes that the assessor or her chief deputy attends every Equalization Board hearing, so an informal conversation before filing is a genuine conversation rather than a formality.
If the value still looks wrong, the route to a hearing is through the County Clerk. The Baxter County assessor's own wording is that a property owner who disputes the value may request a hearing with the Board of Equalization through the County Clerk's office from August 1.
- Where to request a hearing: the Baxter County Clerk at #1 East 7th Street, Suite 103, Mountain Home, AR 72653.
- When requests open: August 1, per the assessor's office.
- Statutory deadline: the third Monday in August each year. An application may be made in person, by petition or by letter.
- Hearings begin: no later than the second Monday in August, with hearings after hours at least one day a week.
- Working owners: at least one day a week, hearings run after normal business hours.
- Decision: written notice within ten business days, including the right to appeal to County Court and the deadline for doing so.
One limit is worth knowing before you file. The board can only rule on whether the value placed on your property is accurate and equitable, not on whether the resulting tax is higher than you want to pay. If your objection is to the millage rate itself, that is set by the school board, the city council and the quorum court, not by the assessor or the board. The statewide framework is in how to appeal a property tax assessment in Arkansas.
Sources: Baxter County Assessor's Office and Arkansas AACD county board of equalization model hearing procedures.
Baxter County property tax examples
These examples use the Baxter County average of 45.92 mills for 2026 collections with the $600 homestead credit applied. Read them as estimates, as your parcel has its own district and city pair.
| Market value | Assessed at 20% | Tax before credit | After $600 credit | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | $20,000 | $918 | $318 | $26.53 |
| $150,000 | $30,000 | $1,378 | $778 | $64.80 |
| $175,000 (county median, rounded) | $35,000 | $1,607 | $1,007 | $83.93 |
| $250,000 | $50,000 | $2,296 | $1,696 | $141.33 |
| $500,000 | $100,000 | $4,592 | $3,992 | $332.67 |
Calculated at the 45.92 mill Baxter County average for 2026 collections. Rows assume one $600 credit on a qualifying primary residence.
Baxter County median home value and median tax
This section is historical and statistical information for comparison. This data does not enter the calculator and says nothing about your own parcel.
The gap between the median bill and a millage-derived figure is narrower in Baxter County than in most counties on this site. Multiplying the median home value of $174,600 by the 20% assessment ratio and the 45.92 mill average implies roughly $1,604, against a surveyed median of $799. That is still a factor of two, and the reasons are the ones that apply statewide: Amendment 79 caps, the districts median-priced parcels actually sit in, and the value freeze claimed by a large share of Baxter County's retirement-age owners. Keep the ACS figures in the background and plan with the calculator above.
Sources: The ACS 2024 five-year release supplies B25077, B25103 and B01003. All three are survey estimates with sampling error.
Baxter County property tax questions
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The county average total millage is 45.92 mills for 2026 collections, blending 34.46 school mills, 4.93 city mills and 8.50 county mills. Actual rates run from 37.41 mills for a rural Mountain View #30 parcel to 52.79 mills for a Norfork city address in the Norfork #61 district.
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A rural parcel in the Mountain View #30 district at 37.41 mills. Among incorporated places, Mountain Home is the cheapest at 42.66 mills, because the city levies only 2.0 mills. Big Flat is next at 40.91 mills thanks to its 3.5 mill city levy in the same cheap district.
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Because two expensive pieces stack. Norfork sits in the Norfork #61 school district at 37.39 school mills, and the city levies 6.9 mills of its own, of which 1.9 mills is a streets levy that most cities do not have. The result is 52.79 mills, the highest published rate in the county.
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The total is 8.5 mills everywhere, but it is assembled differently. City parcels pay 1.35 mills of road money allotted to the city plus 1.35 mills county road, while rural parcels pay 2.7 mills county road instead. The general, library and college lines are the same.
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October 15. The collector states that taxes unpaid by the fifteenth day of October are delinquent and a 10% penalty is extended, and that the delinquent list is delivered to a legal newspaper before December 1 each year.
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Yes. The collector documents installment payments from the first business day in March through October 15, so the bill can be paid down across the year rather than as a lump sum.
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The county homepage links its online property search to actDataScout and its tax records to ARCountyData. Search the assessment record by owner name, address or parcel number to find the district and city combination.
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Your parcel uses its own school district and city combination rather than the 45.92 mill county average, and Amendment 79 caps can hold your taxable value below 20% of market value. The annual limit is 5% on a homestead and 10% on other parcels.
Nearby county pages
Official sources
County averages and the Baxter County per-district millage table used on this page.
Office functions, hours for both the assessor and the GIS addressing office, and the homestead warning.
Payment window, installment payments, the 10% penalty and the newspaper publication rule.
Links to the online property search and the payment gateway, plus the property fraud alert service.
The assessor record search the county links as its online property search.
Collector records covering current and delinquent books.
The statewide appeal timetable, evidence order and decision timeline.
Credit eligibility, the annual caps, and the freeze that holds taxable value.