The deadline for landowners to appeal the assessed value of their property has been extended to April 30. The original deadline had been this past Tuesday.

Assembly member Brenda Josephson, who introduced the measure at Tuesday’s assembly meeting, said she felt an extension was necessary given the unprecedented nature of social-distancing measures. She said she infrequently visits her mailbox these days and knows many in the community are feeling out of sorts due to pandemic concerns. 

Both the state and federal government have extended financial deadlines including Permanent Fund Dividend application and federal income tax filing dates. 

Conducting the appeals process from afar is not anything new, said Haines Borough assessor Dean Olsen, explaining his hesitancy to extend the due date for appeals. Olsen said although he is sympathetic to the effect the pandemic is having on people’s lives, the borough has been able to handle remote property value appeals for owners who live outside the borough since before email existed.

Olsen said he typically receives a large number of appeals on the day of the deadline. He said he worried extending the deadline would invite another round of appeal submissions. 

This year’s property assessments have generated a harsher response than in past years. Several community members have expressed displeasure with the amount their property values have increased between this year and last year, especially in light of current pandemic-driven economic trends. However, property assessments were set long before the pandemic was a concern, in accordance with state law, Olsen said. 

Olsen said the borough has always processed legitimate appeals presented after the deadline, but he needs time to be able to do his job and worries an extension would crunch this timeline.

Assembly member Stephanie Scott wanted to know how a proposed delay would affect development of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Property assessments, combined with mill rate, are used to determine how much a person owes in property taxes each year.

Borough manager Debra Schnabel said the two-week extension Josephson proposed would leave the borough one week to establish the mill rate for the year’s property taxes instead of roughly three weeks.

Despite Olsen’s concerns, the assembly voted 5-2 in favor of a new timeline for the assessment appeals. Scott and assembly member Zephyr Sincerny voted against the measure. 

According to the new timeline, the Board of Equalization will meet on May 28 and, if necessary, again on June 1 for appeals that cannot be resolved through a direct exchange of information between the property owner and the assessor.