The Jones County Board of Tax Assessors moved forward with taking care of department business to begin the new fiscal year at their September meeting.
The Sept. 3 meeting was called to order by Chairman Dr. Leigh Stanford, and board member Joe Rutledge led the prayer and pledge. The meeting was also attended by board member Tina Presley.
Board member Andrea Riley was not present, and the fifth seat on the board is vacant.
Chief Appraiser Lori Buchanan went through the agenda items beginning with the recommendation to approve 78 homestead applications. Board members received copies of the applications prior to the meeting.
She said there were no denials.
Presley made the motion to approve the applications, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Buchanan presented 77 E&R and ACO orders and recommended approval. She explained the large number of the orders were because the digest was turned over to the Tax Commissioner Aug. 20.
Rutledge made a motion to approve the list, and the motion was approved unanimously.
The appraiser presented 21 motor vehicle appeals and reviewed 16 CUVA applications. Rutledge also made that motion, which was approved.
Buchanan explained an exemption request for the taxability of a primary care facility. She said the facility had provided services since 2025. It is a non-profit, and all the boxes for the exemption were checked off.
The appraiser noted that unlike an assessment, the exemption for taxability can be applied for any time after April 1. Presley made the motion to approve the exemption.
The next item was four appeals that were received after the Aug. 13 deadline. She said all were either metered or postmarked after the deadline. Rutledge made the motion to deny the appeals received after the deadline, following state statute.
Buchanan gave an appeal update. She said a total of 672 real appeals were received, including 14 that were personal, 150 were justifying for homestead not disagreeing with value, and 22 were to apply for CUVA. The appraiser said 310 would be certified for 30-day notices for real parcels and eight personal appeals for 30-day notices; 124 notices will be forwarded to the Department of Equalization; and 85 appeals are still active.
“I think that is pretty amazing considering we had 672 at the end of the deadline on the 13th,” she said.
Stanford asked if Technical Appraisal was still helping with the appeals.
“Any help that I have needed, they have been wonderful about,” Buchanan said. “We are in really good shape.”
Stanford asked for a motion to certify the list of the 310 30-day assessment notices, and Presley made that motion. Buchanan then recommended the approval of the 124 no-change notices and the 36 withdrawals.
Both recommendations were unanimously approved.
At the conclusion of the business on the agenda Stanford opened the floor for comments.
Jones County Commissioner John Wood came forward to thank the Board of Assessors for their service and dedication. He also asked a question about an update of the mapping for the county.
Stanford said she contacted the state and was told the current mapping was sufficient, and it was not necessary to go to the expense of updating the mapping. With that being said, the chairman commented she had been contacted by another provider that wanted to demonstrate a mapping product that could be useful to several different county departments.
