Buncombe County board opens formal appeal period, discusses hearing schedule and late-list penalty rules

The Buncombe County Board of Equalization and Review voted unanimously to close the informal appeal period as of April 11, 2025, and open the formal appeal period to extend until May 16, 2025, and spent the rest of the meeting reviewing hearing procedures, scheduling options and how to treat late-list penalties.

The question is significant because the scheduling and rules will govern how property owners and businesses present appeals of appraisals, and a reappraisal year typically produces a sharp increase in filings that could require more frequent hearings and clearer procedural rules.

Board members first approved minutes from the March 19, 2025, meeting by motion and voice vote. Chair Randall Barnett then read the board's statutory duty and announced the appeal-period dates: "Per the North Carolina General Statute . . . So I now close the informal appeal period as of 04/11/2025 and open the formal appeal period to extend until 05/16/2025," Barnett said. The motion to open the formal period was moved and seconded and carried by an in-meeting voice/hand vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

Staff told the board the office currently has "around a little over a hundred" appeals in hand and that number is declining as staff settles cases; staff also warned the board that the next reappraisal year will likely produce a much larger caseload. Because…