State Board of Equalization affirms administrative judges in five tax appeals; appellants raise evidence and process concerns

The Tennessee Board of Equalization on Aug. 11 affirmed the initial decisions of administrative judges in five separate tax appeals brought from county boards of equalization, the board announced after hearing brief oral arguments.

The petitions came from property owners and taxpayers who had appealed county valuation decisions to the state board. The board heard limited oral argument (three minutes per side where requested) on several matters and then voted to adopt the administrative judges’ findings as the board’s decisions.

Roland Baggett, representing himself in Baggett v. Davidson County Assessor’s Office (tax year 2021), argued the administrative judge made procedural and evidentiary errors, including allowing testimony from an assessor employee who had not been disclosed as an expert and failing to address what Baggett described as the assessor’s reliance on mass-appraisal software. Baggett told the board, “they have delegated the entirety of their duties to software,” and said the assessor’s property photograph for his home dated to 2015 and did not reflect later work.

Sam Keane, assistant metropolitan attorney representing the Davidson County assessor’s office, responded that the assessor was not required to offer a contingent value and…