Benton County homeowners schedule an equalization hearing by August 17, 2026. How Arkansas appeals work and why the 2024 reappraisal is worth a second look.
Benton County homeowners appeal their assessment to the county Board of Equalization, and hearings must be scheduled by the third Monday in August, August 17 in 2026. The board sits from August into October, scheduling costs nothing, and an agent can handle the whole case on the homeowner's behalf.
When is the Benton County assessment appeal deadline?
Assessment notices mail in mid-July, hearing scheduling opens the third Monday in July, July 20 in 2026, and the last day to schedule is the third Monday in August, August 17, 2026. The board hears appeals from August into early October, including evening sessions at least one day a week, and issues its decision in writing. A homeowner who disagrees can take the case to county court, with no filing fee, by the second Monday in October.
How does the appeal process work?
Arkansas builds in a soft first step: every owner has the right to an informal review with a county appraiser before the board stage, and those conversations often happen by phone. The formal hearing is structured but short, the homeowner or their agent presents after the assessor, and the whole appeal can also run on written documentation without an appearance. The county's reappraisal site publishes the cycle dates and the rules that govern values.
Why is the 2024 reappraisal worth a second look?
Benton County is the fastest-growing county in Arkansas, and it reappraises every four years. The last countywide reappraisal landed in 2024, among the fastest value run-ups in the state, and the next arrives in 2028. That makes 2026 a quiet-window year: whatever the 2024 number is, right or wrong, it keeps billing until 2028 unless someone challenges it. Arkansas caps how fast a homestead's taxable value can climb at 5 percent a year, so part of a big 2024 jump is still phasing in, and a lower appraised value shrinks the ceiling that cap is climbing toward.
Look up if you are overpaying on your Benton County home.
What evidence do you need for a Benton County appeal?
The question the board decides is what the home would have sold for on the valuation date, and a reappraisal that priced an entire booming county at once can get one house wrong. Making that case land in a short hearing takes practice. Fair Appeal handles the entire assessment appeal on the homeowner's behalf; there is no upfront cost, the fee, when it applies, is a percentage of first-year tax savings, and you owe FairAppeal nothing unless the appeal wins.
How much is at stake?
The median Benton County home runs about $386,000, and total rates in the Bentonville school area work out to roughly 62 mills applied to a fifth of appraised value. A 10 percent reduction on the median home is worth close to $480 a year at full rates. Longtime owners whose taxable value sits below the cap see savings phase in; recent buyers, who are taxed on the full appraised value, see it immediately.
What is the bottom line on appealing in Benton County?
The hearing must be scheduled by August 17, 2026, or the 2024 reappraisal value stays on the books until 2028. The informal review is a phone call, the formal hearing allows an agent, and both the board step and the county court step after it are free to file.
Related reading: why recent buyers have no tax cap yet and how appeals work in Jackson County, Missouri.