The opinions expressed at last week’s meeting of the Jones County Tax Assessors were so different it is hard to comprehend that the opinions were about the same department.
Chief Appraiser Tony George spoke at the Dec. 5 meeting about a department that is operating well with any previous issues having been corrected. At the same meeting, community members spoke about the incompetency of the appraiser, department and the board members responsible for its oversight.
The five-member Board of Tax Assessors has been down to three members since the resignation of its previous chairman, Mary Watts, who resigned Sept. 11. The board currently consists of its newly elected chairman, Tim Andrews, and members Scherryl Morgan and Geraldine Hogan.
It was announced at Thursday’s meeting that Hogan’s term is up Dec. 31, and she is retiring.
That means, as of Jan. 1, two board members remain, and it will no longer be a functioning board. Three votes are required for a legal vote of the board.
Andrews said he was unaware of the number of votes required during a Nov. 18 called meeting. He was questioned at the meeting about not voting since becoming chairman, putting in question all the votes taken by the board under his leadership.
Andrews called Thursday’s meeting to order with one of the first items being the approval of meeting dates for 2025. It was noteworthy that the chairman did raise his hand to vote during the meeting.
Tax Appraiser Kim Adams was the first speaker on the agenda. Adams was suspended by the board with pay at a Nov. 18 called meeting.
Adams stated she has worked as a tax appraiser for the county for 12 years, and during that time has only received positive reviews. She said she was suspended for subordination but has yet to be told why.
“No one has spoken to me,” she said.
Adams said she feared for her safety after she became a whistleblower at the Sept. 3 Board of Commissioners work session, after which she had to go back to work in the same department about which she had reported.
“I will continue to advocate for the people of Jones County,” she stated.
Mickey Parker was the next to speak. This was not his first time speaking to the board, and this time he was prepared to comply with the newly imposed two-minute time limit.
Parker said the board has cost Jones County $1.1 million from 31 utility companies because of the county’s failure of the Department of Revenue sales ratio audits in 2022 and 2023.
“This should have been fixed years ago,” he said. “Taxpayers are suffering because of your incompetence.”
The speaker also said the board’s human resources skills were atrocious and put the county in jeopardy of massive lawsuits.
James Crutchfield was next. He said it was his opinion that the board had created a hostile work environment for its employees. Crutchfield doubted the validity of a part-time board.
“If you care anything about Jones County, you will resign voluntarily,” he said.
The agenda returned to tax assessors business that included the approval of 23 motor vehicle appeals.
The board also talked about wanting to grant the chief tax appraiser the ability to hire and fire employees as of January of 2025.
Andrews asked County Attorney Ashley Brodie if she knew if the board could do that. She said she was not familiar but would look into it.
“We need to look at the ability to hire and fire in order to have continuity and fairness for employees and the chief appraiser,” he said.
Public comments
Robert Jordan questioned the increase in his property taxes. He said his increased by $300 while no one else in his neighborhood had an increase. He said he tried to appeal but became discouraged.
George told Jordan to come to his office, and he would look at the situation.
Gray Mayor Pro Tem James Collins noted that the room was full because of the concern of the community. He spoke directly to Andrews, stating that he felt the chairman was rude to Brodie at the previous meeting.
“You owe her an apology,” he said.
Collins said he spoke for others in the room in saying the board members needed to resign.
“You’ve limited our time to speak, but what you are doing is affecting the livelihood of people. Remove yourself from the process and let someone fix this mess,” he said.
Matthew Simms said he is a property owner and a business owner in Jones County. He said he has never complained about paying taxes because he understands they are necessary.
“My problem is the way this board is acting. The chief tax appraiser has history. The tax assessors board could fix this in one meeting,” he said. “You have an opportunity to resign, and I wish you would take it.”
George’s view
The chief appraiser began with a report about HB 581. He said he attended a seminar, and people were there from all over the state to find out about the floating homestead exemption.
George said tax notices are usually mailed May 15, and he was not sure if that will be affected.
The appraiser then gave his view of what was taking place in his department.
“I have been respectful, but I have not been afforded that courtesy. That’s the way I was raised, but it’s time to stop this misinformation,” he said.
George said the there is no collection order from the Georgia Department of Revenue, and the tax digest has been on time for the past eight years. He said there were 115 appeals in 2023 and 171 in 2024 out of 16,000 properties.
“If things were so out of whack, there would be more appeals,” he said.
The appraiser said the Board of Commissioners are saying the county is about to be fined. He said that would not happen for six years and then only if it were warranted. He said Adams brought up the situation with another employee, but George said he was not told it had occurred.
“To say the department leadership is responsible is wrong. There are two people who caused this environment,” he said.
The Jones County Human Resource department was informed by Adams immediately after the Oct. 24 incident, and she informed George by text, which is still on her phone. When no action was taken, Adams reported what had occurred to the Gray Police Department Oct. 25, and following an investigation, Donna Welch was arrested and charged with simple battery.
George’s next statement was a poorly veiled accusation about the chairman of the Jones County Board of Commissioners.
“Bill Goodman is Chris Weidner’s tenant,” he said.
The appraiser said he would continue to be respectful, but the sky is not falling. At the conclusion of his remarks, he replayed the portion of the Board of Commissioners’ Sept. 3 work session where Goodman and Adams spoke.
At the conclusion of the playing of the video, Andrews stated it was the first time the board watched the video and actually heard the statements Goodman and Adams made to the commissioners.
One interesting fact about that is Commissioner John Wood made a motion at the Sept. 3 Board of Commissioners meeting for those statements to be played for the Board of Assessors at their next meeting, which was Sept. 5.
Wood’s motion was unanimously approved by the commissioners, and no reason was given as to why that did not occur. That work session has also been available to view online since Sept. 3.
Meeting continues
Andrews called Goodman to the front for questioning. He asked the appraiser if he could continue to work with George, and he said he could.
Then the chairman asked him if he felt he could come to the Board of Assessors, and Goodman said no.
“I tried to explain the problem to you during the Sept. 5 illegal session, and all you could ask was why I was picking on Tony,” he said.
Andrews stopped Goodman from continuing and then he asked the same questions of Adams. She, too, said she could continue to do her job but did not feel she could come to the Board of Assessors.
At that point, Andrews announced that Hogan would be retiring and expressed his appreciation for her service on the board.
The board then went into closed session to discuss personnel. When the meeting reconvened, the motion was made by Morgan for the tax assessors to adopt Jones County’s employees manual.
That motion was adopted with a unanimous vote.
The next motion was read by Hogan. The motion was to place a written reprimand in the files of Adams and Goodman for the reason of their discourtesy. No further explanation was given.
Following that vote, the meeting was adjourned.
The Dec. 5 meeting of the Tax Assessors is available to be viewed in its entirety on the county’s website, jonescountyga.org.
