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Buncombe Board accepts late evidence, approves staff valuation changes in self-storage appeals
Summary
The Buncombe County Board of Equalization accepted late evidence from an appellant, directed staff to resketch and reduce reported square footage by 4,000, and voted to adopt staff’s income-approach recommendation for a contested self-storage property, raising the assessed value to about $6.0 million.
The Buncombe County Board of Equalization and Review on June 22 accepted late materials from an appellant in a contested self-storage property case and approved staff’s revised valuation recommendations.
The board voted to accept a site sketch submitted late by the appellant for a Sardis Road storage property and directed county staff to resketch the building footprint to reflect roughly 4,000 fewer square feet while retaining the staff’s 75% completion assumption. Chair (identified in the transcript by role) put the question; a board member moved to accept the information and the motion carried by voice vote.
County representative Joseph Turner, who presented the valuation, told the board the county’s assessment treated the Sardis Road building as about 75% complete and placed a current assessed value of just over $6 million against an appellant-submitted figure of $1 million (which Turner described as “a placeholder”). Turner said the county inspected the site Jan. 15 and used regional comparables and cap-rate assumptions to reach its recommendation. Turner said the county would resketch and recompute square footage using the sketch if the board accepted the new information.
Turner also presented a separate appeal for a Hendersonville Road self-storage building that the county had modeled as Grade C. He told the board his review found a misclassification: the facility more closely fits the Grade B income model (interior, climate-controlled storage), which changes the lease-rate and cap-rate inputs that drive the income approach. Turner said adjusting the classification increased the assessed value by roughly $1 million to $1.4 million for the Hendersonville Road case, and he recommended moving the property to a Grade B income model and using a 7% cap rate in the county’s tax-assessment calculation.
Board members expressed concern that a taxpayer’s appeal could result in a higher assessed value and higher tax bill; one member said the outcome felt “punitive” while others noted statutory limits that require market value as of Jan. 1. Turner responded that appeals allow the county to correct errors and that the county has a statutory duty to make assessments equitable across property types.
After discussion, a board member moved to approve the staff recommendation for the income-approach valuation the county presented (the staff materials recorded the figure as approximately $6.0 million). The board voted in favor.
The board’s action will prompt the county to issue corrected notices reflecting the resketched square footage and any resulting changes to assessed value. The appellant retains further administrative appeals: Turner noted the owner may take the case to higher review, including the state property tax commission in Raleigh.
The board moved on to other agenda items after the votes.
