Minutes 10-21-2025-Business Meeting

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33 Since that time, the County retained Tanner Valuation Group, LLC to make recommendations on appeals and to expedite the neighborhood reviews with the goal of having those reviews completed by mid-November 2025. The Board of Commissioners made resident appointments to the Tax Assessment Work Group at the October 7, 2025 Business meeting, and the Group's first meeting is scheduled for October 24, 2025. This report provides a status update on the property tax appeals and neighborhood reviews that have been completed to date, the value adjustments resulting from those reviews, and the geographic distribution of both the informal and formal appeals. Appeal Status The Tax Office received a total of 3,346 informal appeals during the informal appeal window that was open from March 21 to April 30, 2025. Following the informal appeal window, the Tax Office has received to date an additional 1,109 formal appeals for a current total of 4,455 appeals. Of that total, 3,966 are unique properties, with the overlap representing properties that were appealed at both informal and formal levels. Of the formal apeals, 70 were not submitted by the deadline and will not be considered. Since the September update, additional formal appeals were received as property owners have 30 days to appeal decisions. The last mailing of decision notices on informal appeals occurred on September 9, 2025, with remaining notices expected to be mailed on or before October 21, 2025. As of October 13, 2025, the Tax Office issued decisions on 3,329 or 99.5% of informal appeals with 17 informal appeals pending. The Board of Equalization and Review has completed 439 or 39.6% of the formal appeals with 670 still in process. The remaining appeals are scheduled to be completed on or before December 11, 2025. The total change in assessed value from appeals is a decrease of $219,893,471 as of October 13, 2025. The median change for residential properties is a decrease of$41,600, and the median change for nonresidential properties is a decrease of$80,600. Neighborhood Reviews The Tax Office conducted an equity analysis on the County's 1,026 assessment neighborhoods. The International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) specifies that measures of vertical equity are only representative of possible inequities in neighborhoods with five (5) or more sales. Of the neighborhoods with more than five (5) sales, the Tax Office identified 86 neighborhoods that were outside of the equity standards used by the IAAO. Of the neighborhoods with less than five (5) sales, the Tax Office examined those neighborhoods for consistency and reasonableness and identified an additional 76 neighborhoods that require a more thorough review. The Tax Office is also studying the 19 neighborhoods identified by the Orange County Property Tax Justice Coalition for possible value adjustments. A total of 171 neighborhoods were identified by the Tax Office for closer review. Tanner Valuation Group is assisting the Tax Office with the neighborhood level reviews. As of October 13, 2025, twelve (12) neighborhood reviews have been completed. Those reviews resulted in value adjustments to 432 properties and a total assessed value decrease of $23,519,300. The Group has started with the 19 neighborhoods identified by the Orange County Property Tax Justice Coalition and is conducting extensive field work on those neighborhoods. Once those neighborhoods are completed, the Group will move to the neighborhoods with the highest number of appeals. As the the number of appeals decreases by neighborhood, the intensity of the field work will decrease, and the completion rate will accelerate.