The Jones County Board of Tax Assessors had an early called meeting last week to award a bid for the county’s revaluation of all county properties.
The May 15 meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m. by Chairman Leigh Stanford, and the opening prayer and pledge were led by board member Joe Rutledge.
The revaluation bid was the first item to be considered by the board. Sanford said the bid proposal was sent out in April and advertised to 707 vendors. She said one bid was received from Technical Appraisal Services in Macon.
The chairman said the high demand for the service is believed to be the reason only one bid was received. She said the bid was reviewed by staff, and it met all the required criteria.
Stanford added that the projected completion date given for the revaluation was June 1, 2026, which was sooner than expected.
Board member Andrea Riley made the motion to award the bid to Technical Appraisal Services, and the vote to approve was unanimous. The bid was in the amount of $687,000.
Stanford said the next step is to take the request for funding of the revaluation to the Board of Commissioners. She said she would present the request to the commissioners at their May 20 meeting. The award of the bid is contingent on the funding.
Appraiser Kim Adams, who serves as board secretary, later clarified the revaluation will be for all parcels in Jones County, which includes all property types.
Home value increase
Interim Chief Appraiser James Davis had more good news with an update of value modifications for 2025. He said the staff had found additional sales and now recommends the value per square foot for houses in Jones County be increased to $110.
When work started on the values nine weeks ago, the value of homes in the county was at $60 per square foot. At the May 2 Board of Assessors meeting, Davis recommended increasing the square foot value to $95. At that time, he said they would raise Jones County’s projected sales ratio to 36 percent. Davis stated at the May 15 meeting that the additional square footage value would increase the projected sales ratio valuation to 38 percent, which is within the target value.
Stanford pointed out that increase would mean utility companies would pay Jones County the full amount of taxes, which are calculated using that ratio.
Davis said the Price Related Deferential (PRD) has improved, but the Coefficient of Dispersal (COD) will not improve until the revaluation is completed.
A clarification of what that means, which was gleaned from several sources, is PRDmeasures how consistently assessed values reflect the actual sale prices of properties.It essentially checks for biases in the assessment system, which is what the staff has worked to correct over the past nine weeks.
COD is a statistical measure used in property tax administration to gauge the uniformity of property assessments, which requires the more detailed revaluation to correct.
Riley made the motion to increase the square footage value to $110, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Stanford gave a personnel update. She said the board has been reviewing applications for two appraisers and for a chief appraiser.
The chairman said they did find one suitable candidate, but they had accepted a position in their home county.
“Its an ongoing process,” she said.
Stanford said the staff continues to work seven days a week to have the county’s 2025 tax digest completed by May 21.
With no more business, the meeting was adjourned.
New board members
The Jones County Board of Commissioner filled the two remaining vacancies on the Board of Tax Assessors at their May 6 meeting. Tina Presley was appointed to the board to fill a term ending Dec. 31, 2028, and Justin Kelly was appointed to fill the term that will end Dec. 31, 2025.
Stanford said those appointees would be sworn in prior to the May 21 called meeting.
