County Equalization Board set to hear assessment appeals

County Equalization Board set to hear assessment appeals

Property owners disputing tax bill invited to voice objections

news@theeveningtimes.com

Residents who wish to dispute their property tax assessment have until August 8 to sign up for a hearing before the county board of equalization.

County Equalization boards across the state will be meeting through Oct. 1 to hear appeals on assessed values for all land and other real and personal property.

Crittenden County Assessor Kim Hollowell said residents need to call her office or stop by if they have a dispute.

“They just need to contact our office,” Hollowell said.

“They have until the second Monday in August to call the office to say that they have some kind of dispute. We review that informally in the office. And if we can’t resolve that or don’t see any reasons, then it goes to the EQ.”

County Equalization board meet to review and equalize property tax assessments as assessed by the assessor, and to hear appeals by property owners.

Equalization means to adjust the value of property in order to bring about a uniform tax rate. Hollowell said the board began their review of assessments on Aug. 1, when the final assessment records are turned over to the county clerk.

Appeals from landowners will start no later than the second Monday in August.

Hollowell said the meeting schedule is determined by how many appeals they receive.

“We have to meet at least one time after business hours and one time during business hours to give everybody an equal opportunity,” Hollowell said. “It really depends on how many we have. If we have a whole bunch we may meet two or three times a week.

If we don’t have any, it might be just once a month. It just depends on how many we have.”

Typically the county EQ board hears about five to six cases a year, she said.

“Last year was the end of the reappraisal cycle and we had less than historically past years,” Hollowell said.

The Crittenden County Tax Assessor is located at 250 Court St. #1 and is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information call (870) 739-3606.

By Mark Randall