Property tax appeals-revisions.

22LSO-0409
2022
STATE OF WYOMING
22LSO-0409
Numbered
2.0

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0098

Property tax appeals-revisions.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Gray, Bear, Harshman, Heiner, Jennings, Laursen, Sweeney and Winter and Senator(s) McKeown and Salazar

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to property taxation; revising the property tax review and appeal process as specified; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
.

W.S. 39
‑
13
‑
109(a)(i)(intro) and (b)(i) is amended to read:

39
‑
13
‑
109.

Taxpayer remedies.

(a)

Interpretation requests.

The following shall apply:

(i)

Any person or his agent who wishes to review his property tax assessment or who contests his property tax assessment or valuation in a timely manner pursuant to paragraph (b)(i) of this section is entitled to
a
review
of the property tax assessment with the assessor and to receive copies of the
statements of consideration for properties of like use and geographic area available to the county assessor in determining the value of the property at issue as provided under paragraph (b)(i) of this section.
During a review,
T
he county assessor shall
upon request
disclose information sufficient to permit identification of the real estate parcels used by the county assessor in determining the value of the property at issue and provide the person or his agent
papers
copies
of all
relevant
information
, including

which shall include but not be limited to
statements of consideration
,

and any database or spreadsheet analysis
the assessor relied upon in determining the property value and including statements of consideration for properties of like use and geographic area which were available to the assessor and are requested by the person or his agent.
The taxpayer or his agent may
request information under this subsection at any time after the review period and until thirty (30) days before any scheduled county board of equalization hearing related to an appeal under subsection (b) of this section.
The county assessor shall, upon request, provide the person or his agent a statement indicating why a certain property was not used in determining the value of the property at issue.
This information shall be provided in a timely manner to enable the taxpayer or his agent to determine the effect that not using the property had on the valuation of the property.
The county assessor and the contestant shall disclose those statements of consideration to the county board of equalization in conjunction with any hearing before the board with respect to the value or assessment of that property.

As used in this paragraph:

(b)

Appeals.

The following shall apply:

(i)

Any person wishing to contest an assessment of his property shall file not later than thirty (30) days after the
postmark or electronic transmission
date of the assessment schedule properly sent pursuant to W.S.
39
‑
13
‑
103(b)(vii), a statement with the county assessor specifying the reasons why the assessment is incorrect.

The county assessor shall provide a copy to the county clerk as clerk of the county board of equalization. The county assessor and the person contesting the assessment, or his agent, shall disclose witnesses and exchange information, evidence and documents relevant to the appeal,
including
which shall include but not be limited to
sales information from relevant statements of consideration
,

if requested, no
the land economic area or strata applicable to the property, applicable neighborhood adjustments and the land attributes applicable to the property not
later than thirty (30) days prior to the scheduled county board of equalization hearing. The assessor shall specifically identify the sales information used to determine market value of the property under appeal. A county board of equalization may receive evidence relative to any assessment and may require the person assessed or his agent or attorney to appear before it, be examined and produce any documents relating to the assessment. The appeal may be dismissed if any person willfully neglects or refuses to attend a meeting of a county board of equalization and be
examined or answer any material question upon the board's request.
Failure to disclose witnesses or to provide or exchange information, evidence or documents as provided in this section may result in exclusion of the undisclosed testimony, evidence or documents at the hearing at the discretion of the county board or hearing officer. If the county assessor has unreasonably failed to provide information as provided in this section the county board may grant the appeal and remand the case back to the county assessor for an adjustment to the valuation.
The state board of equalization shall adopt rules to be followed by any county board of equalization when conducting appeals under this subsection. All hearings shall be conducted in accordance with the rules adopted by the state board of equalization. Each hearing shall be recorded electronically or by a court reporter or a qualified stenographer or transcriptionist. The taxpayer may present any evidence that is relevant, material
or
and
not repetitious, including expert opinion testimony
, to rebut the presumption in favor of a valuation asserted by the county assessor

and appraisals of the property
. The county attorney or his designee may represent the county board or
the assessor, but not both. The assessor may be represented by an attorney and the board may hire a hearing officer. All deliberations of the board shall be in public. The county board of equalization may
, based upon a preponderance of the evidence,
affirm the assessor's valuation
, remand the case back to the assessor with specific instructions
or find in favor of the taxpayer and remand the case back to the assessor
for an adjustment to the valuation
. The board shall make specific written findings and conclusions as to the evidence presented not later than October 1 of each year;

Section 2
.

This act is effective July 1, 2022
.

(END)

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HB0098