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Board of Appeal and Equalization Handbook Assessor notifies taxpayer The assessor notifies taxpayers of their values and classifications each year after they have been estimated on the assessment date. This notification –the Notice of Valuation and Classification –must be mailed at least10 days prior to the Local Board of Appeal and Equalization meeting or 10 days prior to the open book meeting (generally, this means that the notices are mailed in February or March of eachyear). At this point, the property owner can appeal the EMV and/or classification if he/she feels that the property is: classifiedimproperly; valued at an amount higher than they could sell the property for;and/or valued at a level different from similar properties in thearea. The property owner should first contact the assessor’s office to discuss questions or concerns. Issues often can be resolved at this level. If questions or concerns are not resolved after talking with the assessor, formal appeal options are available: Property owners may appeal to the Local Board of Appeal and Equalization (some jurisdictions that have transferred the local board duties to the county will have open book meetings instead of local boardmeetings); If the property owner is not satisfied with thelocal board’s decision (or the outcome of the open book meeting), he/she may then appeal to the County Board of Appeal and Equalization;and/or The property owner may appeal to TaxCourt. The Notice of Valuation and Classification must provide the property owner with the date, time and location of the Local and County Boards of Appeal and Equalization. AssessormeetswithStateBoardofEqualization The State Board of Equalization ensures assessors follow approved appraisal and assessmentpractices and reviews the results of the assessors’ work in estimating values. This board meets in June of every year. The meeting, and any resulting changes, occurs only after a review of values and sales ratios and after discussions with the county assessor, county assessors in adjacent counties, and the Commissioner of Revenue. The Department of Revenue, as the State Board of Equalization, completes its own sales ratio studies –one which is very similar to the assessor’s study, plus two additional studies –to be sure values closely match the real estate market. The department has determined that a minimum of six sales in a jurisdiction are required for the median ratio to be reflective of actual assessment levels for its studies. There are some jurisdictions and property types that may never have enough sales, for example small-town commercial properties. In these instances, the assessor and the State Board of Equalization may examine sales over a protracted period of time or borrow sales from other similar jurisdictions to help evaluate the assessment and estimatevalues. The State Board of Equalization completes this verification statewide for each property type and jurisdiction and can order changes to EMVs if the assessor’s work does not comply with law and guidelines. If the study indicates that the median ratio is below 90 percent or above 105 percent, the Commissioner of Revenue has the authority to increase or decrease values to bring about equalization. The equalization process is designed not only to equalize values on a county-, city-and township-wide basis but also to equalize values across county lines to ensure a fair valuation process across taxing districts, county lines and by property type. State Board orders are usually on a county-, city-or township-wide basis for a particular classification of property. All State Board orders must be implemented by the county, and the changes are made to the current assessment year. 12