By Karissa Minn
kminn@salisburypost.com
After preparing for its largest volume of revaluation appeals to date, the Rowan County tax office actually is seeing fewer than it has in the past few cycles.
Tuesday was the deadline for property owners to informally appeal their new assessed values. Some mailed requests will continue to arrive at the county tax office this week, and formal appeals later will be added, but the largest surge of appeals has likely passed.
Barbara McGuire, the countyís real estate and personal property manager, said 2,600 appeals had reached the tax office Tuesday afternoon. She did not expect to total to exceed 3,000 by the end of the day or 5,000 in total.
Three thousand appeals account for about 3.8 percent of property values in the county, McGuire said. The tax office typically expects about 8 percent to be appealed, and it estimated there would be more this year.
ěFor once, Iím so thrilled that Iím so wrong,î she said. ěI think thereís just a sigh of relief that Rowan County recognized the economy and what was going on, and values went down for the most part.î
A database of properties in Rowan County showing new and old values will be available soon on the Salisbury Post website. Post staff members are working to combine two databases provided by the county.
McGuire said the county knows not all of its values are exactly right. Certain properties are difficult to appraise, and factual errors can give others inaccurate values. Informal appeals give the county a change to make simple changes without coming before a board.
ěSomebody might say, ëHey, I donít have two bathrooms. I have one,í î McGuire said. ěI donít know if thatís technically an appeal, but we look at things like that.î
Property owners who didnít submit informal appeals or disagree with the results can file a formal appeal to the countyís Board of Equalization and Review. The first meeting of the board must be held no earlier than the first Monday of April.
Requests for a hearing may be made by calling the revaluation section at 704-216-8586 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or faxing a request to 704-642-2050. Actual times and dates will be advertised in the Post.
Contact reporter Karissa Minn at 704-797-4222.