W. Va. Code R. § 110-1E-4

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024

Section 110-1E-4 - Hearing Of Record

4.1. County commission duties and responsibilities. -- The county commission when hearing the petition shall sit as an Administrative Appraisal Review Board.

a. It shall hear such testimony, under oath, as the petitioner, the Tax Commissioner and other witnesses may offer, and the hearing shall not be subject to the West Virginia Rules of Evidence.

b. It shall make a true record of the testimony presented, such record being by nonstenographic electronic recording suitable to assure that the recorded testimony is true and accurate.

c. It shall assure that any and all other evidence presented is preserved.

d. Subsequent to evaluating any and all evidence presented, the county commission shall make a factual determination as to whether the amount of value fixed by the appraisal of the property is correct under the circumstances. There is a rebuttable presumption the appraised value is correct.

1. If the appraisal is found to be correct, the county commission shall enter an order approving the appraised value and adopting by reference the determinations and reasons made by the Tax Commissioner in his review which was conducted under the authority of West Virginia Code § 11-1A-16(d).

2. If the appraised value is found to be incorrect and if sufficient evidence was presented to permit correction of the appraised value, the county commission shall correct the appraisal and fix the value of the appraised property.

3. If the county commission finds there is insufficient evidence to determine the correct value, it shall direct the parties to develop and present additional evidence, and for this purpose it may continue the hearing until there is sufficient evidence to fix the correct value. In this context, parties shall include the owner, the Tax Commissioner, a protestor or an intervenor.

4. The county commission upon making the determination as to the correct value of the property appraised, such determination being in accordance with the immediately preceding subsections 4.2 and 4.3, shall enter an order and shall inform all of the parties in writing of its determination. The decision, with the reasons deemed appropriate by the county commission, shall be on the pre-numbered form provided for that purpose by the State Tax Department to the county commission.

4.2. Withdrawal by petitioner. -- If prior to the assigned hearing time the petitioner should withdraw his petition, the county commission shall consider as resolved, with the reappraised value prevailing, the issue of whether the reappraised value was the correct value. The county commission sitting as the Administrative Appraisal Review Board shall not reschedule the matter for hearing unless there remains any of the time limit provided in section 17.3.2 of this regulation: Provided, That if the petitioner does still desire a hearing, such hearing may be provided only upon submission of a properly completed Petition For Hearing and such Petition For Hearing is submitted within the remaining allotted time.

4.3. Petitioner failing to attend hearings. -- If the Petitioner does not attend, either in person or by appropriate representation, the hearing provided for the purpose of determining the correctness of the reappraised value, the county commission shall consider the reappraised value to be the correct value and it shall not reschedule the matter for a subsequent hearing.

W. Va. Code R. § 110-1E-4