DOR Responds To A Due Process Concern

There were VAB Hearings, the other day, during which a special magistrate determined that the presumption of correctness was applicable. BUT prior to that Finding, the petitioner had not been given an opportunity to rebut the presentation of the property appraiser.   Other questions remain but the initial concern has been addressed, at least by the State.

… It appears that the board or special magistrate may have ruled without first affording some opportunity for the petitioner to be heard on the facts and law relating to the issue of the presumption of correctness. If you find that the ruling was made without such opportunity, for such a petition in which the special magistrate did not properly consider the issue, we recommend another hearing be scheduled for the special magistrate to conduct an administrative review, in order to cure any evidentiary preclusion that may have occurred to the petitioner by ruling on the presumption without hearing from the petitioner at all. …

The problem of not being afforded the opportunity to be heard is that there is an advantage given to the property appraiser if found to have a presumption.