County anticipates flood of tax assessment appeals
Anticipating an avalanche of formal appeals related to Washington County’s first property reassessment in 35 years, the commissioners are poised to appoint a dozen members of auxiliary boards plus alternates.
Hearing tax assessment appeals will be former county commissioner Bracken Burns, Joseph Trifaro, Chris Jarvis, Larry Mauro, Rick Sethman, Tom Diehl, David Kresh, Larry Roytas, Rich Hall, Tom Brown, John Marcischak and William Loar.
Alternate appointees are Jeff Jones, Alan Veliky, Roger Waters, Cathi Kresh, Michael Silvestri, Richard White, Lee Nickovich and Gary Karluk.
“I’ve been told there will be literally thousands of these hearings,” Burns said Wednesday, noting training will take place in June in advance of “change of assessment” letters to be mailed July 1.
August, September and October are expected to be the busiest months for appeals so the tax rolls can be certified in November in advance of municipal and county budget preparations for January 2017. New assessments won’t be take effect in school district tax levies until July 1, 2017.
Formal appeals are to be convened in the Chapman Building, 351 W. Beau St., Washington, across from the Jefferson Court Plaza shopping center. Burns said he expects appeals to be scheduled evenings and Saturdays in addition to Monday through Friday weekday hours.
A draft of a notice states anyone planning to formally appeal an assessment must file, in writing, with the board of assessment within 40 days, including weekends.
Tyler Technologies Inc. since late March, was holding what are known as “informal reviews” to correct errors in its database, such as measurements and number of rooms or fireplaces.
The 20 members of the auxiliary boards and alternates will be hearing appeals in addition to the three-member board made up of John Rheel, William West and Anthony “Sonny” Spossey that has been in place since January 2012. They were paid $1,000 per month, but once reassessment-related appeals begin this summer, it’s likely that the threesome’s salaries will be suspended and they and the new appointees will be making $30 per hour. The commissioners have not, however, taken action on compensation.
Tyler Technologies Inc. in 2013 was the recipient of a $6.9 million contract to conduct the first countywide reassessment since 1981. The McGuffey and Washington school districts took the county to court in 2008 demanding the commissioners reassess, which the board agreed to do when it ran out of legal options.
Washington County has approximately 120,000 parcels of land.