Board of Review

About

The purpose of Sharon Township’s Board of Review is to ascertain that all non-exempt property is assessed at 50 percent of true cash value and is uniformly assessed with other property in the classification. A taxpayer may appeal his or her assessed value and/or taxable value. No person can appeal his or her assessment to the tax tribunal unless he or she has first appeared before the board of review.

The Board of Review consists of three members appointed by the Township Board for a two-year term that begins on January 1 of each odd-numbered year. Townships may appoint six- or nine-member Boards of Review to hear appeals in subcommittees composed of three members each. Two members of a subcommittee constitute a quorum.

Board of Review members must be qualified electors and two-thirds must also be township landowners and taxpayers. No member of the School Board or Township Board nor a spouse, mother, father, sister, brother, son or daughter, including an adopted child, of the assessor may serve on the Board of Review.

The Board of Review meets on the Tuesday following the first Monday in March to review and examine the property assessment roll made by the assessor – this meeting is often referred to as the organizational meeting. The Board of Review is not required to hear individual assessment appeals at its organizational meeting. However, the Open Meetings Act requires that citizens be given an opportunity for public comment at any open meeting of a public body.

Notice of the Board of Review’s meeting time, date and place must be published at least one week prior to the meeting in a newspaper of general circulation within the township. The notice must appear in three successive issues of the newspaper; if none is available, the notice must be posted in five conspicuous township places. The places our township uses are: the Comstock Post Office, the Comstock Community Center, the Comstock Township Hall and Library, Comstock North Fire Station and Comstock Central Fire Station.

Authority

The board of review has the authority to do the following:

• Change the assessed value of a parcel,
• Change the tentative taxable value,
• Change the classification,
• Grant or deny a hardship or poverty exemption,
• Change qualified agricultural property,
• Grant exempt status for non-profit organizations or certain religious or charitable properties,
• Override the decision of the assessor on a homestead exemption, and
• Change clerical errors, mutual mistakes of fact and items such as addresses, descriptions or name misspellings on an assessment roll.