TERC membership reduced, single-commissioner hearings authorized

A bill that reduces the membership of the Tax Equalization and Review Commission (TERC), authorizes single-commissioner hearings and establishes a preliminary notification program in Douglas County was passed by the Legislature May 5.

LB384, introduced by Bellevue Sen. Abbie Cornett, eliminates the at-large commissioner of the four-member board. Commissioners’ terms will expire on July 1, 2011, and the terms of the appointed commissioners will be staggered so that one ends every biennium. The governor is given the authority to set commissioners’ salaries.

The bill restricts single-commissioner hearings to appeals regarding parcels valued below $1 million. If the TERC chair designates an appeal for a single-commissioner hearing and both parties agree, then an informal single-commissioner hearing may be held. The usual common-law or statutory rules of evidence do not apply at single-commissioner hearings. Either party may request a rehearing before the entire commission.

Finally, beginning Jan. 1, 2014, the bill requires counties with a population of at least 150,000 to mail or post on the county assessor’s website a preliminary notice of valuation by Jan. 15 each year and provide an opportunity for real property tax protesters to meet in person with the assessor or staff. Taxpayers who do not request an in-person meeting with assessor staff by Feb. 1 waive their opportunity to do so.

Real property tax protesters who protest their valuation must be given an opportunity to meet in person with the county board of equalization or a referee.

The bill was approved 36-11 and its appropriation bill, which reduces TERC general fund appropriations over the next biennium by $174,000, passed 44-2.