I just got my county tax appraisal for my home and the appraised value had jumped by 10.5% since last year. I haven't done anything to my home in that time, so I was justifiably appalled. I took to Facebook and asked the town if anyone else had this happen, and the response was overwhelming - some had theirs raised by as much as 70% without reason. I have yet to hear anyone whose appraisals stayed where they were or dropped. Obviously, I'm not happy. I've already scheduled an appointment to speak to the appraiser and appeal this bupkis, but I don't actually have any power in that meeting.
Last year our town's hospital board voted themselves a pay raise in the form of a much higher tax rate for the hospital district, while simultaneously cutting many programs and services from the hospital. When the town found out about it, they held a special vote to repeal that nonsense. The timing of our town's home values being jacked up across the board is too perfect to be a coincidence IMO. But ultimately I'm not sure what to do. Some folks on Facebook have suggested things like protesting, appealing, class action lawsuits, replacing the chief appraiser, and storming the appraising office en masse, but I don't understand any step in the process well enough to form a complete opinion. I'm all for stomping out government tyranny, but I'm not sure about the best process here.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Any information about the tax appraisal process or advice on what to do in this situation would be very helpful.
