COEUR d'ALENE - Citizens appealing their property value assessments next summer might not plead their cases before Kootenai County commissioners.

They might face a panel of fellow citizens.

Commissioner Jai Nelson is leading efforts to create a three-citizen panel to hold hearings on appeals of commercial and private property valuations.

The commissioners would still meet as the Board of Equalization to make final decisions on appeals, Nelson said, but instead of presiding over all the hearings, they would hear recommendations from the panel.

"We have to make the final decisions as the BOE, we can't delegate that. But we can delegate the hearing process," Nelson said. "We'll try this, and see how it goes."

It takes weeks for the commissioners to meet each June as the appellate BOE body and preside over appeal hearings, Nelson pointed out.

If a citizen panel took over some of those hearings, she said, it would allow the elected officials more time to govern.

There are usually several hundred appeals, she noted.

"They're easily half an hour to an hour each," she said, adding that Idaho statute gives counties from the fourth Monday of June until the second Monday of July to complete the hearings. "In the meantime, while we're sitting in hearings all day long, most of county business gets pushed back, pushed aside."

Individuals with appraisal expertise would be better suited for navigating complex appeals, she said, adding that commissioners usually lack that background.

"It would probably weigh on me if I see a recommendation that says, 'There's a unanimous vote by the hearing body that has this expertise,'" Nelson said.

A citizens panel also wouldn't have the potential conflict of interest the commissioners have, she said.

After all, valuations the commissioners determine as the BOE will be calculated into property taxes, which the commissioners will later decide how to allocate in their regular capacity.

"We're in the pipeline on both ends," Nelson said.

The county has issued a Request for Qualifications from individuals with appropriate appraisal expertise, to be submitted by Jan. 4. Nelson hopes to have selected individuals go through training and be poised to hold hearings this June.

Panel members' compensation is to be determined by the commissioners.

Assessor Mike McDowell has voiced doubts.

He fears citizen-led hearings could mean a bigger workload for county assessors, he said. And it could cost the county to compensate the panel members, he added.

"For credentialed appraisers, from talking to folks we know, being compensated about $150 an hour is typical," McDowell said.

He also worries the county will be open to legal challenges because it lacks statutory authority to create a citizen BOE panel.

"I understand that county government, we're only authorized to perform duties as prescribed in statute," McDowell said.

Nelson replied that compensating the panel members is justified.

"They're going to save the county dollars because we'll be able to do our duties in the interim," she said.

She sees no reason that county assessors will be more burdened than usual, she added, and the commissioners have discussed the idea with their legal department.

"Nothing says we can't do it," Nelson said.

Tony Poinelli, deputy director of the Idaho Association of Counties, said no county has done this before.

"Some of the counties that have large numbers of people, it definitely takes two, three, four weeks to hear those cases. Something needs to be done," Poinelli said. "I think this will be a good test model."

McDowell said the county has seen as few as 200 appeals a year and as many as 1,200.

This is a move that will need much analysis, said Commissioner Todd Tondee.

"I think we're going to have to be very careful with it, to make sure we get the right thing and make sure the public feels that they are getting good hearings," he said. "But I feel a professional hired to do the hearings could be good, depending on who we get."