The number of initial appeals came in lower than planned in the county’s 2015 revaluation.

The initial appeal deadline for revaluation was Monday and the number of appeals filed with the Rowan County Assessor’s office is 1,500, or about 2 percent of the total parcels in the county, according to County Assessor Kelvin Byrd. In early March, just after values were mailed to property owners, Byrd said the amount of appeals could equal 10 percent.

Byrd said the appeals filed aren’t concentrated in a specific type of property — commercial or residential for example. The appeals also aren’t clustered in a specific geographic location in Rowan County, he said.

Any appeals not confirmed as warranted by the assessor’s office and appealed a second time will proceed to the Board of Equalization and Review. With a lower number of appeals received than planned, Byrd said the number of sessions for the board would, in turn, be fewer. Each session is three to four hours long. This year, the board will be paid $60 per working session.

Typically, a small percentage of the appeals made to the assessor’s office continue to the Board of Equalization and Review, according to Byrd.

So far, the Rowan County Board of Commissioners has appointed 14 people to the equalization and review board. During Monday’s commissioners meeting, Robert Roakes was appointed as chairman.

On his application for the board, Roakes stated: “I spent 33 years in residential lending on homes and commercial real estate, reviewed appraisals and took applications.” He is the vice chairman of the Salisbury Housing Authority board and is a Habitat for Humanity board member. He’s a Catawba College graduate.

The revaluation board is scheduled to meet for the first time in early April to begin hearing the second stage of appeals.

Once all appeals are heard and decided, property tax values will play a significant part in the county’s budget. Byrd said property tax values for 2015 are 1 percent lower overall than in 2011, the last time Rowan County went through revaluation.

Byrd said the 1 percent decrease in the overall property value amount wouldn’t likely change with revaluation.