Briefs County

County prepares for property valuation appeals

Property valuations for 2011 won’t hit mailboxes until May, but the Gunnison County Board of Equalization is already gearing up for public response. County assessor Kristy McFarland appeared before a Gunnison Board of County Commissioners’ work session on Tuesday, February 22, to recommend hiring a third-party hearing officer for public appeals.

“The hearing officer should be independent of the county, preferably living out of the county so there is no question of bias,” McFarland said.
The board will appoint a certified general appraiser with experience in mass appraisal to hear deposition from both the appellant challenging the valuation of their property and a representative from the assessor’s office. The hearing officer would then present recommendations to the board based on what the officer heard, and the board would make the final decision in the appeal.
According to McFarland, the cost of a hearing officer is $300 per eight-hour day, which is less than half the cost of the board’s time. But hiring a third-party officer is not a strictly financial decision. The decision comes after an exceptionally charged round of public hearings in July 2009, when property valuation—which considers trends from the previous two years—did not yet reflect the economic downturn.
“The real savings for us and the community is about taking ‘the politics’ out of the process and having a neutral third party listen to both the assessor’s office and the property owners’ cases,” said County Commissioner Paula Swenson.
County Manager Matthew Birnie is currently negotiating the hire of a hearing officer for approximately a third of cases as a trial run.