The Jones County Board of Tax Assessors had its first meeting with a full board in more than a year.
Board Chairman Leigh Stanford called the July 3 meeting to order and welcomed new board member Tina Presley. The new board member was sworn in by Superior Court Clerk Pam Dixon June 28.
Action items — including the approval of Conservation Use Value Assessments and Forest Land Protection Act continuations, renewals and approvals — were presented by Appraiser and Board Secretary Kim Adams.
The secretary also presented five Error and Relief cases, 36 Motor Vehicle Appeals, 19 Homestead approvals and one Homestead denial. All the documents were forwarded to board members prior to the meetings for review.
Board Member Joe Rutledge made the motion to approve the action, and the vote in favor was unanimous.
Interim Chief Appraiser Jim Davis gave an update for appeals and the tax digest. He said the department has received 200 appeals since the tax assessment notices were mailed May 29.
Davis said, of those appeals, 189 were still pending.
“That’s still a very small number considering the number of changes that were made,” he said.
The interim appraiser again praised the work of the staff in handling the appeals.
“They have handled this well and have not been overwhelmed,” Davis said.
He went on to say he anticipates approval of the county’s digest, despite the number of appeals. Davis explained that as long as the number of appeals is under five percent of the total number of properties, it would be accepted by the state. Five percent of the county’s 16,000 properties is 800, which puts the county well under the threshold.
Property owners have until July 14 to submit appeals.
Davis said he believes the information provided to the public prior to the mailing of the notices helped.
“The public knew the property values were low and had to be brought up to state standards,” he said. “I appreciate the staff’s great work.”
Adams said 21 corrected notices have been sent out, and she explained the notices were incorrect for various reasons.
With no more items on the agenda, the meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m. to enter into closed session. The meeting reconvened approximately 45 minutes later with no action taken.
Jones County Board of Commissioners Chairman Chris Weidner attended the meeting and waited until the end of the closed session to speak during public comments.
Weidner took the opportunity to express his gratitude to the board members for their hard work.
The next meeting of the Board of Tax Assessors is scheduled Aug. 7.
