Transcript

The Williamson Central Appraisal District Presents, Virtual Hearings. The following presentation is provided to educate Williamson County Residential Property Owner’s on what takes place during a virtual hearing during the protest phase of a valuation year.

You may file online by accessing our website at wcad.org. If your account is eligible for an online protest, your Notice of Hearing Letter will show an ONLINE PROTEST AVAILABLE watermark through the middle, and an Online Passcode at the top.

Hearings for online appeals may be scheduled using our online calendar, and options may be available for in-person or virtual hearings. Please note that not all days have a virtual, or an in person hearing option.

WCAD uses a platform called RingCentral to conduct Virtual Hearings. To download RingCentral Meetings, you can visit RingCentral.com.

RingCentral Meetings can also be installed from our page at WCAD.org/virtual-hearing-procedures/, under the, Prepare for Meeting, hyperlink.

On the day of a scheduled virtual hearing, an appellant will need to go to WCAD.org/virtual-hearing-waiting-rooms. This is where the meeting link will be posted to enter the waiting room for the hearings.

The links for the Virtual meeting procedures, and the virtual waiting room can be found on our website at, WCAD.org/protest-procedures. This link also appears in your confirmation email, after you have scheduled your online appeal.

The daily link will connect the property owner to a waiting room. This is much like the lobby in our building. You will be placed in line according to your arrival time, and the time of your scheduled hearing. We recommend clicking your meeting link 15 minutes before your scheduled hearing time. It is appreciated that your microphone remains muted at this time, since this meeting will contain other appellants waiting for their hearing.

Once in the waiting room it is important to monitor your chat box at the bottom of your RingCentral Window.

A Representative from WCAD will ask for your information, to appropriately place you in the District’s queuing system. You will need to provide your name, account number, and your scheduled hearing time.

When the District has an open representative to hear your appeal, you will be sent to a private breakout room to speak with an appraiser.

Once the host places you in a private breakout room, you will have a one on one, informal hearing with a District appraiser.

Informal hearings are 15 minutes, and the District will use RingCentral to screen share, allowing you to see your account, the comparables used, and other evidence. You are also allowed to share your screen if you have evidence to present that was not uploaded before the hearing.

If the protest is not closed in the 15 minute informal hearing, you will continue towards the Appraisal Review Board hearing. The host will place you in the Virtual Appraisal Review Board Waiting Room. Again, the waiting room may contain other property owners waiting for a panel.

Once an Appraisal Review Board is ready to hear your appeal, the panel will request that you join them in a private breakout room.

In the Appraisal Review Board Hearing, the appraiser and the property owner will take turns presenting to the Appraisal Review Board. The Appraiser will use screen sharing to show both parties’ evidence.

An ARB survey and orders, will be mailed via certified letter within 30 days of the scheduled hearing.

If at any time you become disconnected from your hearing, please click the daily meeting link on the Virtual Hearing Waiting Rooms page, and use the chat feature to talk with a WCAD Representative.