With U.S. home prices down by almost a third from their spring 2006 peak, property owners are flooding city and state governments with tax appeals in a trend that’s sure to put even more downward pressure on already tight budgets, according to Businessweek. New Jerseyans filed a record 18,147 appeals during the last fiscal year, up 80 percent from fiscal 2007. Meanwhile, Atlantic City has used up its entire $26 million reserve for tax appeals, and the pending appeals on all casinos there have caused the city’s credit rating to drop to three levels above speculative grade, Moody’s Investors Service said last month. In Clark County, Nev., one of the most battered real estate markets in the nation, taxable property values fell to $184 billion this year from $263 billion in 2009, and the county will lose $514 billion in taxes as a result. Across the country, it’s becoming more and more likely that local governments will need to cut more services in the coming year as a result of that loss in revenue. In South Florida, however, tax appeals are actually now on the decline after a 22 percent drop in assessments between 2008 and 2010. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

The Miami-Dade Value Adjustment Board is hustling to find enough people to handle the 40 percent rise in property tax appeals. The office said 2009 appeals are projected to reach 140,000 as homeowners contest the valuations that determine their tax rates. The board is still counting the appeals it received by the Sept. 18 deadline, and the tally is up to about 80,000. Miami-Dade County clerk Harvey Ruvin said Tuesday he’s hunting for more locations to hear the appeals expected, and wants to increase the number of magistrates, now 33, who are hearing 50 to 60 appeals a day. That number will jump to 41 in December, when the 2008 appeals are complete. [Miami Today News]

Palm Beach County saw a 40 percent increase in the number of property tax appeals, according to the Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller’s office. About 13,200 people protested their tax bills in 2008, mostly over property valuations. This year, that number has jumped to 18,300 property owners who filed petitions with the county by the Sept. 14 deadline.