​After a request for an appeal has been received in writing and scheduled by the local office, an informal hearing should be conducted by the Supervisor or their designee (assessor) in an appropriate setting. The assessor will explain the hearing process and provide the appellant with an opportunity to present evidence supporting their concerns. The assessor must verify the property worksheet information and attempt to obtain any additional information related to the appellant's concerns to make a determination on the property valuation after the hearing.  When necessary, the assessor may also perform an onsite inspection. However, any requests for an interior inspection must have the approval of both the supervisor and the appellant, and the supervisor must be present with the assessor during the interior inspection.

The Supervisor's level hearing is not a forum for defending an assessment, although reasonable care should be exercised to provide all pertinent information to the appellant. Assessors must conduct themselves in a courteous, impartial, and professional manner. Care should be taken to make clear notes during the hearing utilizing the database's appeal sheet.  The primary role of the assessor is to review the appellant's concerns along with the information and sales they have submitted, while ensuring that the property record information is correct, the final market value is supported by comparable sales, and the property has been assessed uniformly with other similar properties within the region.  Tax Property Article 8-407(a)(2) requires that a Final Notice has been issued within 60 days after the scheduled hearing date.

The pertinent reasons for the assessor's appeal decision must be retained in the parcel note section of the database. The database petition screen's “Finding," “Reason," and “Results" fields must be completed prior to the supervisor's approval and flagging for the mailing of the Final Notice. The assessor must select the appropriate “Reason" code related to their appeal review findings as this reason will be included on the Final Notice. 

The audio recording of a hearing by appellants is permitted.  However, the assessor is to conduct any recording of a hearing with the Supervisor of Assessments, Assistant Supervisor, Assessor Manager or Assessor Supervisor present.  A supervisor should make themselves available to every extent possible, especially when the appellant is already in the office for their in-person hearing.   If there is no supervisor available at that moment, the assessor should state that the hearing would need to be rescheduled for when a supervisor would be available and that it would not count as a postponement. 

In-Person Hearing Request to Record:
The supervisor is to record the audio of the in-person hearing using their laptop or cell phone.  At the start of the recording, both parties must provide consent that they are aware that the in person hearing is being recorded. The assessor shall state the account number, site address, date and time of the hearing for the audio record. The audio file recording is to be saved according to the retention schedule.

Video Hearing Request to Record:
The assessor shall seek a supervisor prior to the recording of the hearing as stated above.  The supervisor is to explain that we can provide a written transcript of the hearing after the completion of the hearing.  SDAT does not permit an actual video recording to be released. At the start of the recording, selection for a transcript must be selected. Once recording begins, both parties shall acknowledge consent for recording so that a transcript can be provided.  The assessor shall then state the account number, site address, date and time of the hearing for the transcript record.  The assessor shall maintain a printed copy of the transcript with the appeal file. 

If the appellant begins to record a video hearing, without requesting to do so the video meeting will reflect that it is being recorded.  The assessor shall stop the recording from their video meeting screen and explain to the appellant that their supervisor will need to be present and that the recording will need to  be initiated by SDAT so that a written transcript of the hearing can be provided to both parties after the hearing.   SDAT does not permit an actual video recording to be released.  If the appellant is not satisfied with a transcript, the hearing can be postponed for them to discuss it further with the Supervisor of Assessments.