Residents, commissioners press county appraiser over large valuation changes and appeal outcomes

Sedgwick County residents and county commissioners on June 3 pressed the county appraiser and staff for explanations after the county certified its tax roll and closed a large informal-appeal season.

County appraiser Diana Aspon told the commission the certified tax roll was delivered to the county clerk on June 1 and that informal appeals totaled “a little over close to 9,700” this season, with roughly 40% of those appeals resulting in an adjustment. She said the average change among adjusted informals was about 4.5%.

Residents and a local realtor described much larger swings at the parcel level. “I had a 24% increase, which was approximately $90,000,” said homeowner John Ekeleberger, who said his successful appeal reduced that to about a $60,000 increase — a roughly 12.9% change from the originally assessed amount. Realtor Mark Eastman said he helped neighbors obtain reductions and urged clearer outreach and data corrections for properties with inaccurate records.

Commissioners acknowledged public frustration with the appraisal process while urging caution about assigning individual blame. “The challenge is the system,” Commissioner Batty said, praising the appraiser nd stafffor their responsiveness while calling for statutory and procedural reforms to make the process easier for the public. Commissioner H. said the underlying issue is state policy but said the county can provide more public education and explore solutions such as a taxpayersadvocate and a hearing officer panel to adjudicate appeals.

Commissioners and speakers repeatedly described a mismatch between market sales data and the county approaches in some neighborhoods. Aspon said every valuation method the office uses includes a sales component and that staff do analyze sales filed with the register of deeds; she also described a countywide call center and staff assistance for property owners with questions about notices or appeals.

Commissioner Batty and others urged the county to fund navigation help for residents who do not know how to file an appeal and suggested instituting a panel of certified hearing officers to provide a formal, binding review short of taking cases to district court. Commissioners also referenced HB2644, a state law that caps increases at 5% per year for properties that received owner-favorable adjustments.

The commission voted 5–0 to "receive and file" the public comment on the appraisal presentation before the meeting moved on to other agenda items. Appraiser Aspon said she would provide follow-up numbers commissioners requested, including aggregate assessed-value figures and revised median residential-change figures after appeals.

What happens next: Commissioners said staff will continue targeted analysis of valuation outliers, consider outreach and education measures, and examine possible local options for a hearing officer panel while noting some reforms would require state-level changes. For property owners, the appraiser reiterated appeal paths and the treasurer officehandles the payment-under-protest forms that initiate certain appeal steps.

Quotes used in this article come from the June 3 Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners meeting transcript and public comments.