Jones County Commissioners approved funds for a countywide revaluation at their second May meeting.
Chairman Chris Weidner called the May 21 meeting to order. The opening prayer and pledge were led by Commissioner Sam Kitchens.
The first item of new business was presented by Jones County Board of Tax Assessors Chairman Leigh Stanford. She said the last time she came before the board, it was for a budget increase. The chairman said those funds had been put to good use with overtime for the staff and a part-time position.
“Our appraisers have been working seven days a week,” she said.
Stanford said the staff is enrolled in training programs to get caught up with classes that had been missed. She said much had been accomplished over the past 90 days, including table changes, updates for new construction and now receiving permits in real time.
Stanford said numerous corrections and entire neighborhoods have been graded.
“It’s incredible the amount of work that has been performed,” she said.
The speaker said when they started in March the county had a sales ratio of 27 and a per-square-foot value of $60. She said depreciation of properties had not been done in eight years. She said the sales ratio is now 38.8, and the price per-square-foot is $110.
“That should mean no more lost revenue from utilities,” Stanford said.
She said it will be important to educate the public that an increase in their property values does not automatically mean an increase in property taxes.
Stanford emphasized that while much progress had been made, a countywide revaluation is still needed. She said the county agreed to the revaluation as part of the agreement for the acceptance of the 2023 tax digest by the Georgia Department of Revenue.
“The property values are not uniform; there are still peaks and valleys,” she said. “The staff has smoothed it out, but it needs fine-tuning.”
Stanford said staff has been working non-stop on the digest, and that put them behind in their day-to-day work. She said the last revaluation was in 2007, and the board of assessors is in agreement the revaluation still need to be done.
Stanford said requests for bids went out to 107 sites, but the county only received one bid. That was from Technical Appraisal of Georgia. She said she felt that was due to the demand for the services and the time factor.
She said the bid submitted fit all the criteria, and the company said the revaluation could be done by June 1, 2026. Stanford said the company’s references were checked, and the bid compared favorably to an earlier unsolicited quote.
The cost of the revaluation is $687,000. Stanford said the bid was approved by the Board of Tax Assessors at a called meeting May 15.
Kitchens asked where the funds would come from, and County Administrator Jason Rizner said from the county’s fund balance.
“That looks like a big number, but when you compare that to what the county has not collected because of the low tax ratios, we will be saving money,” Kitchens said.
Stanford said the loss from utility collections last year alone was $300,000.
Commissioner Daylon Martin made the motion to approve the funds for the revaluation, and the vote in agreement was unanimous.
Audience member Pearl Solomon brought up concerns about the affect the increase in property taxes would have on people in the community because of the increase in property values.
Stanford said she would speak to Solomon in the hallway to explain the process of the commissioners’ role of rolling back the tax rate to keep that from happening.
Kitchens took the opportunity to express the commissioners’ appreciation to the job done by the tax assessors’ office and board.
“You all have done a monumental task. I never would have believed it, especially without a full staff,” he said. “We don’t want this huge accomplishment to go unnoticed. Kudos for that.”
Keep Jones Beautiful
Mallory Lunsford introduced herself to the commissioners as the new Keep Jones Beautiful director. She said the 50 volunteers in the April Clean Up did an amazing job.
KJB partnered with 4H for the farm day event at Pre-K, and the Gray Garden Club joined to help with plants so they could take something home. They had three monthly meetings and donated $150 to Haddock Baptist for its beautification project.
She said the KJB committee offered beautification project grants to businesses in the amount of $250.
“I’m grateful for your continued support,” Lunsford said.
Emergency Management
Jones County Emergency Management Director Karen McMichael asked for the agreement of board members to apply for a grant from Tri County EMC. She said the grant would be to purchase weather radios, smoke and carbon dioxide detectors to be handed out to citizens.
“We want to give these free to people who are away from the sirens and need these notifications,” McMichael said.
Kitchens made the motion, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Water department
Jones County Water Superintendent Brandon Stark asked for approval for four new leadership positions in his department.
The positions were for two crew leaders, an office supervisor and operations supervisor. He presented job descriptions for each position.
Clerk of the Board Shannon Wagner said Stark presented the positions to HR, and the salaries have been obtained from the salary study.
“These additions will put supervision in the right place,” Stark said.
Weidner said the department had greatly improved under Stark’s leadership.
During comments at the conclusion of the meeting, Stark reported Phase 2 of Graham Road waterline construction project was 85 percent done. It is expected to be finished the end of July.
He said the contractors for the water tower on Overland Way should be on site this week.
The superintendent noted that three and a half years ago, there was one water department employee with one license, and the department now has five employees with 14 different licenses and three others with various certifications.
He thanked the commissioners for their leadership in the training and certification programs.
Old business
Weidner said a bid is needed to be put out to move the graves located on landfill property in State Place Cemetery. He also suggested reestablishing the cemetery entrance off Overland Way.
During a discussion, it was added that a fence needs to be placed to protect the county’s wells in the area.
Kitchens said families need to be contacted prior to moving the graves.
“We’ve got to move the graves, but it’s also about considering the families’ history,” he said.
Commissioners adjourned to enter a closed session at 7:10 p.m. They returned at 7:21 p.m., reopened the meeting and immediately adjourned.
The next meeting of the commissioners is scheduled June 3.
