The State Department of Revenue has decided against giving Bay County homeowners an extension to challenge their property appraisals.

Last week County Commissioner George Gainer wrote the state, requesting an extra 30 days for homeowners to file petitions with the Value Adjustment Board.

This week, the Department of Revenue responded, denying the request, explaining the VAB does not have the authority to extend the deadline, but can accept late petitions on a case by case basis.

So any property owner, with a good reason for missing the deadline, can still file late, and the VAB could still decide to accept their petition.

George Gainer of the County Commission says, "We had the power as a VAB board to consider anybody's application that we wanted to, and based on that we'll do that. We hope that anybody that has a legitimate reason for not agreeing with the trim notice that that property appraiser's office sent out that they will take the time to fill out the appeal."

For a link to the Value Adjustment Board's petition website, click here.

In a related note, county commissioners will have to appoint a new citizen member to the VAB. Their original appointee Robert Cook has declined the position, because of a possible conflict of interest with his employer. He's a photographer for the News Herald.