About 3,000 property valuation protests were filed with the Lancaster County Clerk's office by Tuesday's deadline.

That's more than in each of the previous two years - but far fewer than the last countywide reappraisal done in 2006, said County Clerk Dan Nolte.

Between 1,200 and 1,400 protests were filed in 2008 and 2007, compared with about 10,000 three years ago, he said.

Countywide reappraisals are done every three years and the latest one was for the 2009 tax year.

Nolte said it's difficult to pinpoint the reasons for the lower number.

He speculated that in some cases, valuations were reduced, stayed the same or didn't rise as much as they normally would in a strong economy.

Preliminary hearings held by County Assessor Norm Agena this spring also may have reduced the numbers as well, Nolte said.

He noted some taxpayers went through the preliminary hearing process and also filed official protests.

Hearings on the protests will be held through the end of July.

The hearings must be done by then, Nolte said, so the Lancaster County Board can take action on valuations on or before Aug. 10, as required by state law.

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 402-473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.