The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing Monday to hear thoughts concerning the 2016 property value assessment.
Tony Lawler, a director in the Office of Property Tax with the Mississippi Department of Revenue, was at the hearing to answer questions.
Lawler said the 2016 assessment process was the result of a state-mandated manual that came out in 2012 with a four-year implementation deadline.
Lawler said the amount given for the true value of a piece of property was based upon what it would cost to build the same product, using like materials, if something happened to the property; also called replacement costs.
Members of the audience expressed concerns about where depreciation values came into the equation.
Board Vice President Hudson Holliday offered his explanation for how the values were reached.
“When you sell a house in Pearl River County, the tax assessor wants to know how much you sold it for,” said Holliday. “What it’s worth is what it is really being taxed on, based on comparable sales.”
Lawler said the true value is a result of an adjustment of the replacement cost based on depreciation to set the market value.
“The values for taxes have to be within 85 to 115 percent of the market value,” said Lawler.
Notices were sent out in July to property owners whose property value increased by at least $3,000.
About 14,000 notices were mailed at a cost of $8,000 to $10,000, said Pearl River County Tax Assessor Gary Beech.
“That was a courtesy mail-out, not a mandated mail-out,” said Beech, adding that there are no legal requirements for the tax assessor’s office to notify property owners of increases.
Benjamin Crosby, speaking on behalf of two private property owners, requested that the process be postponed until every property owner is notified of an increase in value. His request was submitted into the record.
Members of the public also expressed concerns about a lack of notification when property assessments are being conducted on their private property.
Beech said assessors should notify homeowners of their presence by knocking on the front door when they came to look at a piece of property, however, many in the audience said that notification does not happen.
The tax assessor’s office works on a four-year cycle, assessing a certain number of properties each year.
“We try to do 33 percent in three years, and use the fourth year to do more detailed work,” said Beech.
There are about 50,000 parcels of land in Pearl River County, said Beech, but only about 22,000 homes. The rest is vacant land.
Beech estimated that about one-third of county property owners do not pay their property taxes for various reasons.
The Department of Revenue is responsible for holding each county office accountable for properly conducting assessments, said Lawler.
After a 1980 lawsuit, the state Supreme Court mandated equalization with a state pricing manual, requiring counties to use the same assessment procedures, said Lawler.
Many members of the audience asked for consistency in procedure. “It has to be the same for everybody,” said multiple residents.
The state conducts random property spot checks in every county, by comparing their results to the results of each county and check for inconsistencies, said Lawler.
“I do think they are doing it right,” said Lawler in reference to Beech and the Pearl River County Tax Assessor’s Office.
One member of the audience asked if she could hire someone to conduct an independent assessment of her property and present that to the tax assessor’s office.
Beech said privately purchased assessments can be compared to the county assessment to determine a more accurate value.
Final formal objections to new assessed values were accepted at the hearing. Anyone with further questions is asked to contact the Pearl River County Tax Assessor’s Office.
No formal action was taken as a result of the public hearing. The Board will discuss the millage rate in another public hearing on September 15.
The next Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 17.