Benton County property tax appeals begin

BENTONVILLE — Benton County officials have seen relatively few appeals from this year’s property reappraisal.

County Clerk Tena O’Brien said as of Wednesday only six cases had been appealed to county court from the 507 cases heard by the Board of Equalization. The deadline to appeal to county court is Oct. 10, O’Brien said.

“It’s been slow,” O’Brien said.

Benton County is doing a reappraisal of property value this year. Washington County did a reappraisal last year. The Board of Equalization hears appeals from property owners who question the value placed on their property by assessors. In 2011, the last year Benton County did a reappraisal, there were 898 appointments made with the board.

The first four cases to be appealed to county court were heard Wednesday by County Judge Bob Clinard. Clinard lowered the value of the property in three appeals and left it unchanged in another, according to County Clerk’s Office records.

In one appeal, Paul Goze of Rogers asked the value of his property at 13981 Eastgate Drive be reduced from the $309,350 the Equalization Board had placed on it. The board reduced the initial appraised value from $360,900 to the $309,350 that Goze was appealing to county court. Goze asked Clinard to reduce the value even further — to $220,000. Goze said the house had never sold for more than $260,000 and he questioned the higher value placed on it by the assessor and the Board of Equalization.

“The price reflects what people are ultimately willing to pay,” Goze argued.

Marty Brewer, a senior appraiser with the Assessor’s Office, explained state law governs how property value is set. He said the Assessor’s Office has to do a mass appraisal, relying on value established by the sale of comparable properties in a neighborhood, not by the purchase price of the property being reviewed. Rod Grieve, chief deputy assessor, said the disagreement in Goze’s appeal is a common one.

“That’s the basic disconnect we see,” Grieve said. “The property owners are looking at it from a ‘ My house’ and a single parcel of property perspective. We’re looking at it from a mass appraisal perspective.”

The interior finish of the house wasn’t up to the standards of other houses in the neighborhood and there are problems with the floors caused by part of the house being on a slab and part having a crawlspace, Goze said. He repeated his argument the purchase price of the house should be considered

“I think we should rely on what the market is telling us,” Goze said.

Clinard reiterated county appraisers aren’t allowed by state law to enter a residence or consider details such as the interior finish in

making their determination. Clinard said he’s allowed to consider other factors in his decision and reduced the appraised value of the house to $300,000 based on questions about the interior finish of the house.

“I can look at things that

the assessors can’t,” Clinard said. “They usually agree with me. If they don’t and they disagree strongly, I don’t go against them.” Tom Sissom can be reached by email at tsissom@nwadg.com or on Twitter at NWATom.