If you have not appealed your property taxes in the last three years – regardless of whether your assessment is too high, is about right or is below market – in any of those three scenarios – you should appeal – and here is why:

Possibility One: if your assessment is too high – obviously you would want to appeal to try to lower the assessment;

Possibility Two: if your assessment is about right and you are relatively comfortable with it – you should still appeal –under this scenario you need to appeal your assessment to freeze what you have and keep the tax assessor from being able to raise your assessment for three years! Keeping the tax assessor from being able to increase your assessment for two additional years could, and most likely will, save you thousands of dollars.

Possibility Three: if your assessment is below market, out of all of the possible scenarios, in my opinion, this is when it is most important for you to file an appeal. If you file an appeal and handle the appeal in a certain manner, you can get the present assessment frozen for the tax year appealed plus two more additional years. As stated in the previous scenario, freezing your assessment for two additional years could, and most likely will, save you thousands of dollars.

Possibility Four: This category is where you have appealed within the last three years and you are in the “frozen” period. In this scenario, I generally do not recommend appealing.

Yes. You can file an appeal only during a very small window of time each year. You have 45 days from the date of the Notice of Annual Assessment that was sent to you to file an appeal – if you miss that time period you have missed your right to contest your assessment for that year. 

No. The law is clear, once your assessment is published in your Annual Notice of Assessment – it cannot be raised by the county – even if you appeal and fail to get any reduction.

 Yes. You have a statutory right to appeal to the Superior Court. The appeal to the Superior Court is known as a de novo appeal, meaning the value found by the BOE or Hearing Officer is of no consequence – the value is found in the Superior Court by either a judge or a jury, without regard as to any finding by the BOE or Hearing Officer. In a Superior Court appeal, you have the right to choose if you want your appeal to be decided by a judge or a jury.

Each Board of Equalization has three members (judges) that hear your appeal and make a decision as to the value of your property. The board is made up of ordinary citizens – they do not need to be appraisers, Realtors, attorneys or have any other professional qualifications. Each judge (board member) is required to have a certain number of hours of training (furnished by the county) prior to serving. Decisions from the BOE can be appealed further to the Superior Court.

If your property is a non-homestead property and it is assessed at $1,000,000 or more, you can have your appeal (at the administrative level) heard by a Hearing Officer. A hearing officer will be either a certified residential appraiser or a certified general appraiser – both are licensed appraisers by the State. Decisions from a Hearing Officer can be appealed further to the Superior Court.