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Union County board upholds Filman property values after hearing on road frontage and flood adjustments
Summary
The Board of Equalization and Review heard appeals from Richard Filman over two adjoining parcels whose assessments rose sharply after the 2025 revaluation. County appraisers defended their use of comparable sales, a 45% floodplain discount for 4.26 acres, and present-use adjustments; the board ultimately upheld the county values.
The Union County Board of Equalization and Review on Thursday upheld the county's assessed values for two parcels owned by Richard Filman after a hearing in which the taxpayer questioned the use of road-frontage comparables and floodplain adjustments.
Filman told the board the county's valuation had increased "from about approximately 700,000 to 1,400,000" for the combined parcels and argued the county had relied on sales of properties with road frontage while his parcels "have no road frontage." He asked the board to reduce the combined value to about $1,000,000.
County appraiser Brent Marshall said staff ran separate analyses for the parcel with the 2021-built house and for the land itself. He told the board that comparables were selected from the neighborhood and larger nearby parcels and that the county applied a 45% reduction to 4.26 acres that lie in the floodplain. Marshall said the county's land rate "is $17,317 an acre," which is near the median derived from sales the county reviewed.
Board members questioned Filman and county staff about access, present-use enrollment and whether forestry or agricultural classifications applied to parts of the holdings. Filman said he accessed the property by a right-of-way across a neighbor's land and reiterated that "properties that do not have road frontage cannot be valued the same as properties that have road frontage." County staff confirmed parts of the holdings are enrolled in the agricultural/present-use program and described how that reduces the assessed value.
In deliberations the board voted to uphold the county's assessments for both parcels. The board recorded the motion to accept the county values after county staff explained their per‑acre and dwelling analyses and the floodplain and present-use adjustments.
The board noted taxpayers will receive written notice of the board's decisions by statute within 30 days.
Votes and next steps: Board members voted to uphold the county's valuations for both Filman parcels; the county will issue written notices of the decisions.
