Portsmouth commissioner recommends continuing 50% personal-property tax relief; outlines appeals process and emerging issues

Commissioner Frankie Edmonds, Portsmouth’s commissioner of the revenue, told the City Council at a March 24 public work session that the city should continue offering 50% personal-property tax relief for qualifying vehicles and outlined how the program is calculated and administered.

Edmonds said the state established the personal property tax relief program in 2004 and that Portsmouth has received a roughly $9.8 million annual payment from the state since 2006. He said council has historically covered the remaining cost — about $3.5 million under a 50% relief level — as an offset in the city budget.

The recommendation matters because the relief level affects how much individual vehicle owners pay, how much revenue the city must cover in its operating budget and how council balances relief against other revenue needs.

Edmonds described the valuation process used to set assessments, saying Portsmouth uses the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) pricing guide and the J.D. Power model as the industry standard. "We are in compliance with the state code as well as the state constitution to provide 100% of fair market value," Edmonds said. He added that city assessors perform a mass appraisal and noted that taxpayers who…