Jones County Board of Tax Assessors got a welcome report about the county’s 2026 tax digest and said farewell and thank you to their interim chief appraiser at their June meeting.
Board Chairman Dr. Leigh Stanford called the June 4 meeting to order, and the opening prayer and pledge were led by board member Joe Rutledge.
Lonnett Jones recently completed the Appraiser I course, which made her eligible to become Secretary of the Board of Assessors. Jones was appointed and took her place as secretary at the meeting.
Stanford introduced Melzar Nye, president of Technical Appraisal Services, who presented a summary of Jones County’s preliminary digest comparison for the years of 2025 and 2026. Nye talked about the values of residential, historic, agricultural properties, conservation use and more in his report.
Nye recommended lowering the value of a square foot in the valuation from $110 that was used in 2025 to 95.26 for 2026. Most of the report was over this reporter’s head, but the bottom line was overall the digest increased just under 10 percent.
Stanford verified with Nye that the increase included actual growth of new properties as well as value adjustments.
“Jones Countians can know the revaluation is the final step with all the individual changes made, and from this time forward, it should only be table changes,” she said.
“That’s correct,” Nye responded.
The chairman asked for a motion to approve the adjusted the square foot value, table schedules and values for the 2026 Real and Personal Property Digest. Board member Andrea Riley made the motion, and it was approved unanimously by attending board members.
Justin Kelly was the only board member not in attendance.
Stanford thanked Nye and his company for their hard work.
“Looking at the numbers, are we as uniform as possible?” she asked Nye.
He responded yes and added the numbers are very reflective of the market.
The presenter said, as for Jones County’s sales tax ratio, 229 random sales samples were used and produced a sales tax ratio for 2025 of 39.20. The sales ratio equates the difference in the appraised value of properties to their sale price. The Georgia Department of Revenue uses those numbers to determine the fairness of property taxes for each county.
Riley said she was glad to see the list of sales.
“That’s the first thing they’ll ask for, and we’ve got it,” she said.
The perfect sales ratio is 40, but in 2024 Jones County’s was estimated at 29, which was the third year the county failed a DOR audit, which means it was under the lowest acceptable number of 36.
Two of the five members on the Board of Tax Assessors who were responsible for the county’s tax digest resigned, and the term of a third member expired. The remaining two members were removed by the board of commissioners.
Five new members were appointed to the board in 2025, and one of their first actions was the termination of the chief appraiser.
James Davis was selected March 10, 2025, to act as chief appraiser and consultant to the board of assessors.
Davis is an Appraiser 4 and had served as chief appraiser in Bibb, Upson, Colquitt and Monroe counties. He also served as an instructor for the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, an instructor for the Georgia Department of Revenue Assessor/Appraiser Training Program and was president of the Georgia Association of Assessing Officials.
After a year of searching for a permanent chief appraiser, Lori Buchanan was announced as Jones County’s new chief appraiser at the April 2 meeting. She will begin in the position June 15.
Business at hand
Appraiser Bill Goodman presented the items on the agenda that needed to be approved. He recommended the approval of all five exemption applications. Those included two homestead exemptions and three veterans exemptions.
Rutledge made the motion to approve the five exemptions, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Goodman recommended approval of the 12 ACOs and 15 motor vehicle appeals, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
The appraiser asked for one of the Conservation Use applications tabled for more information and approval of the two other applications. Riley made that motion, and it was unanimously approved.
Goodman presented project updates beginning with the work that had started on the 2027 digest.
“We are in a lot better place than we were last year,” he said.
Davis appreciated
Goodman thanked the interim appraiser for his help over the past 14 months.
“It’s been an honor to work with you,” he said.
Stanford said Davis saved them when they did not know what they were doing.
“You provided us guidance and helped us get through a lot,” she said.
Davis said considering where Jones County was a year ago, it is unprecedented the progress that has been made.
“We are looking at a sales ratio above 39; that’s off the scale. Bill and the rest of the staff did the work. I’ve never seen a staff that performed at the level they did,” he stated.
David said a year ago he would have estimated it would take the county two to three years to get where it is today.
“It’s been an honor and privilege,” he added. “I hope I’ve left it better than when I came in.”
Stanford opened the floor for comments, and Board of Commissioner Chairman Chris Weidner came forward.
“This is proof of what can be done with the right people and supervision,” he said. “After eight years of doing it wrong, you fixed it in a year. I’m proud of all of you.”
Weidner said the county is definitely going in the right direction.
“It’s going to take education, but you can’t argue when property values are fair and uniform,” he said.
The chairman said he is excited to see the commercial numbers come in.
Stanford said she appreciated the support of the commissioners who have attended the tax assessors meetings and listened. She added that she was sure the board would continue to support Buchanan.
“The growth of the digest should allow the commissioners to roll back the tax rate even more,” she said.
With no more business, the meeting was adjourned.
