Property assessments questioned
Posted on Saturday, July 26, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/64125/
BENTONVILLE — Benton County Assessor Bill Moutray met with local legislators Friday morning to discuss the property assessments his office recently sent out to Benton County property owners. Many of the assessments showed dramatic increases in value despite a sluggish economy, increasing foreclosures and $ 4-a-gallon gasoline.
“ I believe personally that these assessments are wrong, and I want to know what we can do to fix it, ” said state Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette.
“ It is not right, and it is not (Moutray’s ) fault. It is our government’s fault, and I want to see our government fix it, ” Hendren said.
One of the ways the county has to address problems or questions that may arise from the property assessments is the Equalization Board. Meeting from Aug. 1 through Oct. 1, it is the Equalization Board’s job to meet with concerned property owners about the value of their property, review the evidence brought before the board and reassess the property’s value should it need to be adjusted.
The board can adjust the property values for three reasons: • The assessment is unfair compared with other lands of the same kind, similarly situated; it is appraised higher than neighboring properties with the same uses, size, materials and conditions. • The assessment is clearly erroneous. • The assessment is manifestly excessive.
According to state Sen. Dave Bisbee, R-Rogers, the Equalization Board is the mechanism by which the property-assessment increases can be fixed, so long as that board is properly trained.
“ This is an extraordinary year. We have got an extraordinary problem, and we have got to make sure that the Equalization Board is properly trained, ” Bisbee said.
Therein lies the problem.
This year, only one of the board’s nine members attended training in Little Rock. It is a problem that Bisbee is set on correcting and has begun to lay the groundwork to get the trainer to come to Benton County to ensure that the nine board members are properly trained.
Should the board members decide to alter a property’s value after they convene and hear the owner’s concerns, they can adjust that value to reflect what the value should be. When this happens, according to Benton County Clerk Mary Lou Slinkard, who serves as secretary of the Equalization Board, Arkansas law states that all similarly situated property should also be examined, and that property’s values should also be adjusted.
Arkansas law states that this adjustment of the similarly situated properties after the board adjusts one property’s value should be an automatic adjustment. In previous years, Slinkard said, Benton County has not made these adjustments automatically; instead, they have waited for the owners of similarly situated properties to come before the Equalization Board before adjusting the values.
Hendren and Bisbee were clearly agitated when they found out the automatic adjustments have not been made. They noted that this practice has acted as a disservice to Benton County property owners who should be protected by state law and who instead seem to be finding themselves in a you-snoozeyou-lose predicament.
“ What you are saying is, we have not been redoing values on similarly situated property. We have not been following the law, ” Hendren said.
“ The Equalization Board, if they change one (property value ), they are supposed to change all similarly situated properties, ” Hendren said. “ It is not working this way. It is not going automatic. People are having to come in. That really bothers me because if that is the law, then we are being set up for a great lawsuit if someone finds out about this. ”
One reason for the increased property values, Bisbee said, is that the assessment used property values as of Jan. 1, 2008, which did not take into account the drastic changes the Benton County economy has seen since the beginning of the year.
“ Something critical to remember is the date of the value on the property is Jan. 1, 2008. That is the magical number. (The assessment answers ) what was it worth Jan. 1, 2008, ” Bisbee said. “ We know that we are in a declining market. We went into that declining market in the last part of 2007, and one thing people need to know is this is the value as of Jan. 1, 2008. ”
Bisbee also acknowledged that Benton County “ may not be in an economic recession, but we sure are in a housing recession. ”
According to Kathy Deck, director for the Center of Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, foreclosures in Benton County have increased, while property values for the county have decreased.
Home sales in Benton County have also been steadily declining since 2005, which saw the sale of 5, 500 homes in the county, while 2006 saw 5, 000, and 2007 saw the sale of 4, 000 homes. The years 2005 and 2006 are considered by Deck and Moutray to be Benton County’s boom years, and those increased sales were a major factor in the increased property values — which fail to take into account that thus far in 2008, only 1, 800 homes have been sold in the county.
Hendren’s main concern for the current property valuations is how to fix them to make sure they reflect the true value of the property rather than an inflated value.
“ I have been in real estate for 40 years, and values are going down. Brother, they are going down, ” Hendren said.
Bisbee was adamant in his views that the Equalization Board could fix the problems involved with the property values, stating that the law required Moutray to use bad statistics when he was assessing property, and the board should look at those statistics to overturn the property valuations.
An additional thing that must occur for this year’s property values to be fair and correct is that Moutray must re-examine every piece of similarly situated property each time the board adjusts the value for one piece of property. Those similarly situated properties should have their values automatically adjusted when the board decides only one piece of property was incorrectly valued.
To appeal a property’s valuation to the Equalization Board, owners should call the Assessor’s Office at 271-1037 to set up an appointment. Hearings before the board will be held from Aug. 1 through Oct. 1. Moutray said that as of Friday morning, the board is already booked through most of September, with the Assessor’s Office’s phones “ looking like Christmas trees” from call volume.
In order to be successful before the Equalization Board, property owners should bring with them some evidence as to why they believe their property value is incorrect, such as an independent appraisal of the property or a new mortgage on the property.
For all interested parties, Moutray will be attending a meeting of the Northwest Arkansas Property Rights Association at the Lake Atalanta Restaurant in Rogers at 6: 30 p. m. Aug. 4.
The purpose of the meeting will be to “ advise people on how to handle the assessments and the appeals process, ” said Don Day, a member of the property rights group.
The group will also host other professionals familiar with the property assessments, such as appraisers and real-estate consultants. The group chose to host the meeting “ because of the general interest in the assessments. (They are ) going to affect a lot of people, and a lot of people think it is unfair, so we would like to help the people understand what is going on, ” Day said.