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May 8, 2006
Property
Appraisals and Appeals
ASSESSORS
OFFICE BECOMING EFFICIENT—HAS PLANS AND GOALS.
If you have
been following the reports in the Monticello News about
what goes on in the Board of Assessors (BOA) meetings, you
might recall that in February, 2006 the following was reported:
"In perhaps
the most important part of the office update, Mrs. Bentley
provided assessors a timeline
for a timely tax digest with a May 15 target date for the
mailing of assessment notices. "I'm
going to do everything I can to make sure we're ready,"
said the deputy chief appraiser."
It looks like
this goal will become a reality, and it will be the first
time in MANY years that this has happened!
With less than
2 years working in the BOA office, Lynn Bentley has already
succeeded in passing Appraiser I, II, and III tests. She
has been appointed as the new Chief Appraiser--and one that
is working to get things done in a timely manner.
There was some
frustration shown by Mrs. Bentley at recent Board of Equalization
(BOE) meetings. Everyone attending these meetings had to
admit there are problems. The past Chief Appraiser gave
random discounts to please those that protested their values,
which in turn caused a lack of uniformity among properties.
Mrs. Bentley
is working hard and working long hours to get things corrected,
but it will take a year or more. The more problems she sees
and hears, the more she realizes how many problems
were never addressed in the past and how randomly
setting values without any reason (or policies and procedures)
has lead to inequities between and among properties.
The BOA has
done a good thing by promoting Mrs. (Lynn) Bentley. It may
be a year or 2, but we predict she'll have that office and
the property records in the best shape they've ever been.
Just give her a little time!
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Property
appraisals and appeals
Re-evaluation
notices are going out to property owners in Jasper County
according to the Monticello News (see story below). Based
on the report of what happened at the last BOA meeting,
Mrs. Bentley had reviewed approximately 2,211
real property assessments with an increased value of $90,679,304
as well as 255 personal property assessments with an increased
value of $2,451,491.
If you get a
notice, here are some things to look for and consider:
Your appraisal
will be divided in three parts:
Improvements:
Which is your home
Accessories:
Paved driveways, fences, pools, wells, septic tanks, etc.
Land:
This is your lot, with nothing on it.
You need to
check the assessments of the lots around you to see that
they are uni form in value based on such things as
location, topography, and other external factors.
You can get
a copy of any property
record card showing the assessed values
of that property at your county tax assessor’s office for
25 cents a page. These records are public records and fall
under open records laws.
You
have 45 days from the date of notice to appeal your assessment
if you feel it is in error; however you must have a basis
for an appeal other than “it’s too much.” You can appeal
on value, uniformity or taxability or a combination of these
factors.
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The Monticello
News, May 4, 2006
Assessment
Notices To Arrive Soon
Susan Jacobs
04.MAY.06
Jasper County
property owners should be on the lookout for assessment
notices in their mailbox next week .
During the regular
meeting of the Board of Assessors Tuesday afternoon, newly
appointed chief appraiser Lynn Bentley said that she had
reviewed approximately 2,211
real property assessments with an increased value of $90,679,304
as well as 255 personal property assessments with an increased
value of $2,451,491.
Assessors Jim
Harrell, Cathy Benson, and Gerald Bramblett voted to approve
mailing those notices along with a tax maintenance office
brochure prepared by TBS, the mailing service who will be
sending the notices.
Mrs. Benson
inquired as to whether TBS had the correct information for
the notices so as to avoid the printing error that occurred
earlier this year when tax bills were mailed with an incorrect
exemption deadline.
Assessors also
awarded Traylor Business Services the personal property
revaluation contract, pending a review of the proposed contract
by county attorney John Nix. The company submitted the lowest
bid, $89,500, of three companies received. Funds for the
revaluation project were included in the 2006 budget, said
the chief appraiser.
Assessors
instituted a new conservation use (CU) policy, slated to
begin in 2007, during Tuesday's meeting . The
new policy requires more rigid guidelines and increased
documentation for bona fide agricultural use of the property.
The current guidelines will elapse at the conclusion of
this year.
The chief appraiser's
report included a review of the 2006 sales ratio report.
Jasper County's final overall totals for all fair market
sales totaled .3947 as the median ratio which meets the
state required ratio of .38 to .42. The county's price related
differential (PRD) totaled 1.0149 and coefficient of dispersion
(COD) totaled .1297, the state requires a .95 to 1.05 PRD
and less than .1500 for residential sales.
The report also
included an analysis of sales in various areas of the county.
Those areas included improved Turtle Cove interior lots
and golf course lots, Sky Ranch hangar lots, Templeton Heights
lakefront lots, Cedar Creek Subdivision, and tracts in northern
Jasper more than 15 acres.
Mrs. Bentley
said that she was hoping to offer one-of-two candidates
the personal property vacancy in the office by Friday. Chairman
Harrell said that the new employee would be required to
obtain a level II appraiser status within two years.
The chief appraiser
also praised former employee Cheri Phipps-Shaw for her work
on the personal property digest before vacating the position.
At the close of Mrs. Bentley's office update, the assessors
voted unanimously to upgrade her employment status from
deputy chief appraiser to chief appraiser at $45,000 per
year. A request to allow her to serve as chief appraiser
had been submitted to the state Dept. of Revenue weeks ago
but has yet to solicit a response although she is listed
on their website as chief appraiser.
In other business,
assessors granted one CU exemption after an appeal with
the applicant; denied another exemption appeal; denied one
homestead review; breached two CU covenants with prejudice;
decided to post one possible CU breach at the Courthouse
for the lack of an address; gave a 21-day notification to
a possible CU breach; approved several error and release
forms; and denied Providence Baptist Church an exemption
on 180 acres.
Assessor appointees
Jody Claborn and John Graham attended the meeting and will
be taking the assessor course in July. Phyllis Norwood was
scheduled to take an educational course in the fall.
TWG
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Mission
Statement:
** To keep the taxpayers of Jasper County, Georgia informed
as to where and how their tax dollars are being spent.
** To keep the taxpayers abreast of local policies and laws
being discussed and enacted.
** We advocate more open government, less government spending,
and lower property taxes.
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