Property owners are flooding the Gallatin County Tax Appeal Board's office, asking for another look at this year's property tax re-assessments.

The board has received at least more than 100 appeals for 2009, Chairperson Suzanne Marshall said. That is, by far, the most she's seen during her five years on the board.

"I think in the past three years we've heard probably four appeals and this year it's, yeah, I don't even know how to describe it, it's huge," Marshall said.

The state re-assesses property values every six years.   

Marshall attributes the large number of appeals to when the assessments for this cycle took place in July of 2008. Many property owners believe the value of their property has dropped dramatically since then, Marshall said.

Marshall was not sure on the exact number of appeals that have been filed so far. Gallatin County offices did not immediately return calls Wednesday afternoon, having closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Whatever the exact number is now will change however. Taxpayers can file appeals within 30 days of receiving their assessed value from the Department of Revenue. The DOR is still sending those notices.

"What would really help (the tax appeal board) is when people get their notice of assessment is to talk to the Department of Revenue," Marshall said. She added the department is very willing to discuss how they arrived at the property value and can offer tips for appealing.

"Sometimes people don't understand (the process) and so they get to the tax appeal board and we can't address their issues because we're limited by what the law allows us to do," Marshall said.

Gallatin County officials have suggested taxpayers with one of the scheduled one-hour hearings try to sit in on another hearing before their own to see how the process works.

It is possible to get an appraisal that reflects the value as of today's date.

"There's a regression-type analysis so you can see what the market was doing between July of 2008 and today," Marshall said, adding this often is not seen as the best evidence.

 Gallatin County Tax Appeal Board Web site and the State of Montana's Web site provide more resources about the tax appeal process.

The next tax appeal hearing in Gallatin County is scheduled for December 2. The final hearing in 2009 will be held on December 16.

Hearing dates are also scheduled in 2010. Those dates are January 6 and 27, February 3 and 24 and March 10 and 31.