Duval County VAB raises filing fee to $50, reappoints counsel and names magistrates at organizational meeting

The Duval County Value Adjustment Board on May 27, 2025, voted to raise its petition filing fee to $50 for the initial parcel (with $5 for each additional parcel), reappointed Aaron Thalwitzer as board legal counsel with a recommended hourly rate and a not-to-exceed annual cap, approved a slate of special magistrates and set magistrate pay, adopted updated local administrative procedures that implement recent state law changes, and approved the board’s hearing and monthly meeting schedules.

"Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty," Acting Chair Council Member Rahman Johnson began, quoting John Adams as he opened the board’s organizational meeting at 11:37 a.m. in the Jacksonville City Council Chamber.

The board said the fee update responds to a pattern of mass filings and to statutory changes that gave the board authority to set a higher fee. Johnson said the previous $15 application charge had been in place since the 1980s and that the increase — now set at $50 for the first parcel and $5 for each additional parcel — is intended to discourage what he described as low-merit, mass appeals and to make the VAB more sustainable for taxpayers.

The board adopted Resolution 2025-2 to effectuate the fee change; the measure passed by voice vote. Heather Pellegrin, chief of the Value Adjustment Board division in the City Council secretary’s office, confirmed that the additional-parcel $5 charge is consistent with existing forms for multi-parcel filings and must be certified by the property appraiser when applicable.

During the meeting the board reappointed Aaron Thalwitzer as the board’s legal counsel. The board approved a recommended hourly compensation with a not-to-exceed annual cap of $60,000 inclusive of travel and litigation-related costs. (The transcript recorded the hourly figure with a likely transcription error; the board approved the rate as recommended and the cap of $60,000 was recorded in the motion.) The appointment passed by voice vote.

The board also approved a slate of professional services agreements for special magistrates and attorneys to hear VAB petitions. Staff recommended and the board approved a panel that includes Pamela Andrea; Gerald Borse; David Burbridge; Reginald Carter; Joseph Haines Davis; Edward Bud Delaurier; Austin Hollis Jr.; Caleb Hollis; John Marino; Jonathan McGowan; Henry (Hank) Mullen Jr.; Jonathan Smith; Mel Ward; and Harry Al Yergen Jr. The appointments were approved by voice vote.

The board affirmed magistrate compensation at $125 per hour, the same rate noted as the prior year, and approved the staffing mix recommended by staff: seven residential magistrates, three general magistrates, two tangible-personal-property magistrates and three general-attorney magistrates. The slate and compensation were approved by voice vote.

On administrative procedures, the board adopted local forms and procedures required by state law and Department of Revenue rules. The board specifically noted recent changes under House Bill 7031 that require the board to offer video hearings (for example, Zoom or Teams) upon request and to make evidence exchange mandatory; under the new state rule all parties must exchange evidence at least 10 days before a hearing. Counsel Aaron Thalwitzer confirmed those updates for the record.

The board designated the Value Adjustment Board chief (Heather Pellegrin) as the board designee to act on late-file petitions, good-cause reschedule requests and similar administrative matters. The board approved a tentative hearing schedule running from October 2025 through April 2026, to accommodate the county’s volume of filings, and set monthly board meeting dates beginning January 2026 (Jan. 15, Feb. 12, March 12, April 16 and May 14), all at 11:30 a.m. in the council chamber.

Board members briefly discussed how collected filing fees are used. Aaron Thalwitzer summarized the statutory cost-sharing: the county and the school board are required to fund VAB operations, with the county covering three-fifths and the school board two-fifths of those statutory costs; filing fees help defray the remainder of expenses such as magistrate pay and counsel costs.

The board adopted Resolution 2025-1 to formally adopt the local administrative procedures and forms and adopted Resolution 2025-2 to implement the fee schedule; both resolutions passed by voice vote. With no further business, Acting Chair Rahman Johnson adjourned the organizational meeting.

The meeting record and the board’s procedures and forms are posted online at vab.coj.net and on jacksonville.gov under Value Adjustment Board.