D.C. Council members are proposing to abolish a critical property assessment appeals board, whose decisions trimmed city revenue this year alone by more than $60 million, in favor of a new commission of expert appraisers.
The existing Board of Real Property Assessments and Appeals is one of the District’s most secretive and oft-criticized panels, yet it also is one of the most important, especially in down economic times. Lower assessments deny the government tens of millions of dollars of tax payments every year.
In tax year 2009, the board received 4,480 appeals and ultimately reduced assessments on 1,383 properties by $3.2 billion, cutting D.C. revenue by a corresponding $60.1 million, according to the board’s annual report.
Council Chairman Vincent Gray and Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, chairman of the finance and revenue committee, suggested eliminating the appeals board and taking the appeals process “to the next level.”
“We’re moving forward on a bill that professionalizes this,” Evans said.
Under the legislation, all 12 members of the proposed Real Property Tax Appeals Commission must be certified property appraisers holding one of two designations awarded by a pair of assessor associations — though there may not be more than several hundred in the Washington area. No member could be elected, and all would be deemed D.C. employees.
Decisions, and the commissioners who made them, would be posted on the Internet. No commissioner could review an appeal for which he had any interest, and commissioners would be barred from taking clients before the panel for two years after they leave.
The former chairman of the board, Paul Strauss, is an elected shadow senator and real estate lawyer who accepted campaign contributions from organizations with clients before the panel. D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols, in an October 2008 report, slammed Strauss’ leadership, the board’s “ineffective record management system,” its secretiveness and its antiquated Web site.
The current chairwoman, Towanda Paul-Bryant, has been criticized for lacking expertise.
“The system is in dire need of improvement, and Evans’ bill is clearly a step in the right direction,” said David Umansky, spokesman for Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi.
It is a good idea to professionalize the panel with certified assessors, but the goal will be difficult to achieve because so few exist, said W. Shaun Pharr, senior vice president of government affairs with the D.C. Apartment and Office Building Association. The city should focus on getting the assessments right in the first place, he said, as a “tax bill based on an erroneous high assessment is not money the city is entitled to.”
In its annual report, the board acknowledged past criticism but said it “used it as an opportunity to revamp its procedures.”
» 2009: 4,480
» 2008: 3,469
» 2007: 3,255
