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11 <br /> Slide #15 <br /> Next Steps? 2UNCI <br /> • Increase outreach to taxpayers about the appeal process <br /> • Repeat stud} after next reappraisal to identify trends <br /> Commissioner Hamilton asked what the year was for Mecklenburg County's reappraisal. <br /> Chris McLaughlin said 2019. <br /> Commissioner Hamilton said she asked because she wanted to get a sense of if there are <br /> any other possible differences. <br /> Chris McLaughlin asked Nancy Freeman if the appeal rates were down because of COVID <br /> in general across the board. <br /> Nancy Freeman said during the pandemic there were other methods offered for appealing <br /> property tax values, such as online appeals. She said staff felt there was a good number of <br /> appeals. <br /> Chris McLaughlin said they could do this study again two years from now. <br /> Commissioner Hamilton asked if there is a possibility of doing a retroactive study to look <br /> back at past data. <br /> Nancy Freeman said the department could go back to 2017, but they would not have as <br /> good of a data set to work with. <br /> Chris McLaughlin said they especially wouldn't have as much consistent data on the <br /> informal appeals. <br /> Nancy Freeman said they did look at it, but they felt that 2021 was the best set of data. <br /> Commissioner Hamilton said 2021 was a unique year because there was the online <br /> appeal process and that the Northside community and the Jackson Center were proactive in <br /> getting people to appeal. She said it shows that it works when the effort is made. She said the <br /> sample size is small and it makes it difficult to see significant results. She said it would be good <br /> to tease out other variables that determine the appeal rate and the changes. <br /> PUBLIC COMMENT: <br /> Elizabeth Young said the meeting was an eye opener for her and tragic. She said there <br /> is a wide disparity. She said at RENA, the average income is $28,000 per year and the average <br /> $250,000 house was revalued at $500,000. She said this has doubled the property tax bill for <br /> those households. She said that there was no info put out about the tax increases. She said that <br /> no improvements have been made for water, sewer, or gas. She said that many homes lack <br /> garbage pickup as well. She said that there were 300 homes in the RENA neighborhood and no <br /> appeals from them. She said that RENA did not receive any information from the county about <br /> the appeals process. She said they heard about it from a few people. She said there is not a bus <br /> route that goes from RENA to the Jackson Center. She asked that the tax assessor would be <br /> more proactive in explaining the process to the citizens. She said that the county does want <br />