Equalization-panel spot remains vacant after JPs reject candidate
A candidate for the Faulkner County Equalization Board was rejected by the Quorum Court in a special meeting Tuesday, leaving a vacancy during the board’s busiest time of the year.
The Quorum Court also voted to open an application period for three weeks to fill the vacant spot.
“You are putting us in a very bad situation,” said Luanne Deere, the chair of the county’s Equalization Board, which is independent of the county assessor and ensures that the county property tax assessment practices are equal and uniform.
The Quorum Court on Tuesday voted against hiring Diana Thompson to fill the vacancy because she lives in Greenbrier. Thompson, who has 30 years as a real estate assessor, is a good fit for the position, but the majority of the board’s four other members live in Greenbrier, Faulkner County Attorney Philip Murphy told the Quorum Court.
Arkansas law, specifically 26-27-304(a)(1)(E), states that the five members “shall be selected from different sections of the county.”
County equalization boards consider property valuation appeals when a taxpayer disagrees with the county assessor’s valuation. Equalization boards typically meet to consider appeals in late summer to early fall.
The position initially opened earlier this year after board member Connie Briggler’s term ended. Briggler was originally appointed by the Faulkner County Quorum Court in 2017.
The county advertised the board position for a month in April, and only one application was received: that of Velda Leuders. She was subsequently appointed by the Quorum Court at its May meeting.
On July 16, Leuders resigned. Leuders didn’t give a reason for her resignation in a text message — supplied to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette — to County Clerk Margaret Darter.
“I am sorry for the incon
venience,” Leuders wrote. “Please express my apologies to the other members, and accept my resignation.”
County Judge Jim Baker said during the meeting that Leuders resigned to care for her sick husband. Deere said Leuders resigned because the county would not provide Zoom meetings for the Equalization Board.
Leuders and her husband are currently “in Colorado in an RV” to be near family as her husband battles cancer. Performing the board role remotely would require the mailing of large packages with hundreds of pages on a regular basis, Deere said.
A second application period on July 17 netted two applicants: those of Thompson and Rob Denning.
The Quorum Court voted to appoint Denning to the post at its July 21 meeting. Both Thompson and Denning were asked at the meeting if they owned land for at least a year in Faulkner County, either currently or in the past, and if they were registered to vote. Both stipulations are required of members of the Equalization Board.
Both candidates answered in the affirmative to the questions.
At the meeting, Denning said he owned his current residence at 1115 Salem Road and also had owned land located at 4151 Boone Loop Road in the past.
The day after Denning’s appointment, Murphy, the county attorney, said he received several phone calls indicating that Denning “had not been truthful” during the Quorum Court meeting.
Murphy then had the circuit clerk research Denning’s real estate ownership in the county. No records could be found that would verify that Denning is the current owner of any real estate in Faulkner County, Murphy said.
Denning’s residence at 1115 Salem Road is listed in the name of Michelle Boone. The property at 4151 Boone Loop Road showed that it has been in the name of Charles and Paula Boone since 1978.
According to Murphy, the circuit clerk said that Denning had paid personal property taxes with the Salem Road address, but has never paid real property taxes for the home.
Denning told the attorney that the owner of the Salem Road home had him sign a “Bill of Sale,” but no documentation has been recorded and there is no deed with Denning’s name on it for the location.
Denning provided a “proof of payment” for real estate taxes in 2009 for the Boone Loop Road property, but there is no record of Denning having ever owned the property, Murphy said.
Denning also said that his wife being named as a beneficiary in her father’s revocable trust would satisfy the land-owning requirement for Denning to be placed on the Equalization Board. Murphy said that Denning cannot claim ownership through his wife’s name, especially because the trust could be changed at any moment given that Denning’s father-in-law is “alive and well.”
Denning resigned last week, Murphy said.
A proposed ordinance by Justice of the Peace Kris Kendrick that would require the county to post information about county boards and commissions on the county’s website will be considered at a future Quorum Court meeting.
The ordinance calls for each board to post the ordinance or law creating the committee, the purpose of the board, the applicable state laws that govern each board, the requirements for serving, the pay amount and the board member information. Board vacancies will be posted on the county’s website for a month if the ordinance is approved.
Currently, the county’s website lists only meeting information for the Equalization Board.