The number of property reassessment appeals in Baldwin County this year has continued to grow in recent weeks, and Board of Equalization (BOE) hearings on those that have not been settled are scheduled to begin within two weeks.
Baldwin County Chief Tax Appraiser Wade Williams, who acknowledged four weeks ago that a full property re-evaluation took place this year, said on Monday that more than 1,600 appeals have been entered in his office’s system. He also said more appeals have been filed but not yet processed.
The number of appeals is well above the five-percent threshold that could hold up approval of the county’s tax digest.
“With the digest, if you’re over a certain percentage, it causes the delay in getting a collection order, and we will work everything we can to try to get under that percentage while the BOE is still going,” Williams said on Monday.
Baldwin County Clerk of Superior Court Wanda Paul confirmed her office is in charge of scheduling and holding BOE hearings.
“The tax assessor’s office certifies those appeals and sends them to us,” Paul said. “We enter them in our system, and we set up hearing dates.”
Baldwin County has six panels, or boards, with three members each, she added.
“Hearings are going to start August 13, and we are going to start during the day,” Paul said. “All of our board members are retired, with the exception of one lady. We will do our first three weeks during the day. We will have a morning session, then an afternoon session. Then the next three weeks we will have an evening session.”
Paul said 189 appeals have been certified in her office thus far, and the schedule at the outset calls for 10 to be heard in the morning and 10 after lunch.
“We don’t know how many will actually come,” she said. “We do have quite a few no-shows. So, we start out with 10 and see how it goes. Then you have to judge how long each one will be. If you have a lot that aren’t coming, you can increase it. Last year we started at 10, went up to 15, and by the time it was done we put 20 down, and maybe five would come.”
Williams said the appeals process can be quite lengthy.
“Last year we only had 531 that went to BOE, and that took us all the way into January and February,” he said. “So, this could take up to six months or a year.”
Williams said if a parcel is still under appeal when the tax bills are sent out, the owner pays a percentage, pending the outcome of his or her case.
“They pay on the appeal value at 85 percent,” Williams said. Using the example of property assessed at $100,000 this year, if the appeal is still in effect when the county is cleared to send out tax bills, the owner would pay taxes on an $85,000 valuation.
“Upon the closure of the appeal, if we got the decision, they would pay the extra 15 percent,” Williams explained. “If they got the decision, they would be reimbursed the difference.”
Negotiations with property owners and BOE hearings represent the county’s attempts to comply with state regulations. Williams explained the Department of Revenue requires a county’s tax digest to be within a certain range regarding disputed value following a re-evaluation. Currently, Baldwin County is outside that acceptable range, Williams said.
“Right now, we have a larger percentage than the Department of Revenue would like before the county sets its digest,” he acknowledged. “So, in the next few weeks we’ll be squeezing as many appeals as we can to get them satisfied to hopefully get under that percentage according to the Department of Revenue by the time the digest gets looked at, prior to September 1.
“Whatever my numbers are on August 16 will be the numbers we give to the board to be able to run their histories, set their meetings, as long as we’re inside that percentage,” Williams continued.
“If we’re not inside that percentage, we’ll ask for an extension and we’ll end up taking it week by week to see where we’re at until we get in that allowable window of acceptance by the Department of Revenue.”
Williams stressed that his staff is trying hard to avoid the BOE process.
“We have the ability to close appeals without a hearing. That’s what we’re working on daily.”