City & County of Denver v. Board of Assessment Appeals

We exercised our jurisdiction under C.A.R. 50 1 to consider whether the Board of Assessment Appeals (BAA) erred in allowing persons to act as “appraisers” or “expert witnesses” and present testimony in property valuation proceedings under contingent fee agreements, contrary to section 12-61-712(l)(b), 5B C.R.S. (1991 & 1996 Supp.). In the three cases before us, two from the City and County of Denver and one from Arapahoe County (the Counties), the persons who testified in the BAA proceedings were salaried employees of appraisal firms that had executed contingent fee agreements with taxpayer…