The 2009 reappraisal protest season got off to a slow and calm start Monday.

On the first work day after the El Paso County Assessor’s Office mailed 260,000 notices of value Friday, a few hundred appeals had been filed.

Assessor Mark Lowderman said business was “very brisk” on the phone lines, walk-in traffic was steady and about 100 property owners filed appeals online during the weekend. As of 4 p.m., 575 appeals had been received.

“The demeanor has been pretty good,” he said of those filing appeals. “Everybody is not calling and ranting and raving.”

The 2008 reappraisal results are expected to generate a lot of questions because 59 percent of residential properties increased in value during the state-dictated reappraisal period of Jan. 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008.

Since that time, property values have plummeted, which might spark a lot of protests. However, Lowderman said a successful appeal must show evidence of an erroneous value based on sales data within the reappraisal period.

Meanwhile, the entrepreneurial spirit has given rise to two services to assist property owners in filing appeals.

But Lowderman said it’s help property owners don’t need.

“I don’t blame a guy for trying to make a buck, but you certainly don’t need to spend any money to come in and talk to us or call on the phone and talk to us,” Lowderman said.

Property owners unfamiliar with the appeal process need only to request help, and the assessor staff will research comparable properties and do what’s needed to assist, Lowderman said.

One service, called Tax Slash, sent e-mails last week advertising that by spending “$49.95 and ten minutes of their time” property owners “can file an effective appeal that meets all of the constitutional requirements.”

The e-mail also said Tax Slash’s service “puts customers on an equal footing with the assessor.”

Lowderman said such language suggests the appeal process is acrimonious, which it’s not.

Lowderman said Tax Slash provided inaccurate information, based on a trial run he conducted plugging in his home address to the free portion of the Web site, at www.propertytaxslash.com. He said the site overstated his taxes by $175.

Todd Richardson with Tax Slash, said the wrong information probably resulted from Lowderman not entering data properly.

He said his service is run by appraisal and assessment experts and is designed to handle appeals for people who don’t have time to go to the Assessor’s Office for help.

“There’s going to be some assessors who are not happy with it,” he said. “But there are some who want to post our link on their Web sites, because it makes their job easier to evaluate these properties.”

The other business is called RE-TAP (Real Estate Tax Appeal Process), which joined the Better Business Bureau in March. The agency reports RE-TAP’s owner hadn’t had a complaint in three years.

RE-TAP’s charge is $25 for what can be had free from Lowderman’s office.

“There isn’t any misleading information,” he said of RE-TAP’s materials, “but the crux of the thing and the meat of it are screen shots of how to use our Web site. We will walk you through the same steps.

“I’m certainly not opposed to any of these things, but you have to weigh the tax savings with what you spend” for a service, he said. “It takes a pretty good value reduction to save $50 a year” in taxes.

Re-Tap didn’t return phone calls or e-mails seeking comment.-Call the writer at 636-0238