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Special Magistrate hears six Hernando County property-value petitions; recommendations to Value Adjustment Board expected
Summary
A Hernando County special magistrate heard six property-value appeals on Jan. 23, 2026, where petitioners and the property appraiser’s office disputed comparable sales, square-foot totals and sinkhole-repair status; the magistrate will review the record and forward recommendations to the Value Adjustment Board.
Special Magistrate Shelley Kennedy presided over a telephonic hearing in Hernando County on Jan. 23, 2026, to hear six petitions challenging property assessments. The hearing covered single-family homes in Spring Hill and other Hernando County neighborhoods; both the property appraiser’s office and petitioner representative Patrick Rodriguez presented sales-comparison analyses and rebuttals.
The property appraiser’s office described assessment packets for each case and the methodologies used. For petition 25185 (49 Rain Lily Ave, Verano Phase 1, built 2024) the office reported an assessed value of $343,201 for 2025 and detailed sales-comparison work supporting that figure. The petitioner responded that the most recent sale should control, stating, “Our opinion of value is actually gonna be... $312,003.67,” and noted some discrepancies in recorded living-area figures used for adjustments. The appraiser replied that the subject contains 2,578 square feet of living area and warned that the petitioner’s comparables appeared to record only first-floor area, which would reverse many of the petitioner’s adjustments.
Similar disputes over comparability recurred across the other petitions. In several matters the appraiser’s office emphasized that the subject properties were repaired sinkhole homes and said certain petitioner-selected comparables were non‑sinkhole properties and therefore not truly comparable. The appraiser also pointed to differences in effective year and in how accessory space (for example, a detached garage included in one comp’s total) was recorded and adjusted, arguing those factors skewed the petitioner’s analyses.
Patrick Rodriguez presented sales grids and proximity maps for each petition and adjusted for size, lot differences and effective year (examples: $60–$80 per square‑foot adjustments and $4 per square‑foot lot adjustments; 0.5% per year for effective-age differences). In at least one case he amended his opinion of value mid‑presentation to rely on a closer comp and cited neighborhood sales spanning 2024. The property appraiser repeatedly questioned the choice and timing of some comparables (for example, a March 2025 sale offered by the petitioner when the appraiser limited sales to 2024) and raised concern about whether cost‑of‑sale and time adjustments were applied consistently.
No formal board rulings were made at the hearing. At the close of the session Magistrate Kennedy said she would review the admitted evidence and prepare recommendations for the Value Adjustment Board, noting those recommendations would be filed in the next few weeks. The hearing was then adjourned.
The record contains claims and rebuttals about square footage, sinkhole repair status and which sales are appropriate comparables; the magistrate’s forthcoming recommendations will summarize findings and indicate whether assessor values should be adjusted or upheld.
