Property Re-Val Set for 2004
Jasper County Tax Assessors voted unanimously Tuesday morning to award the property revaluation contract to TAS Associates.
The company’s bid, $173,500, was the lowest bid submitted, for the project scheduled to begin November 1. Bids ranged up to $235,000.
According to board chairman James Harrell, all companies that submitted bids said that the new values could be reconfigured within eight months. The suggested timeline would allow enough time for assessment notices to be mailed and a tax digest complete, said the chairman.
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A revaluation is required in order to assist the county in complying with the Department of Revenues standards as outlined in a 2001 and 2002 consent orders from the state department. The orders imposed fines on the county for noncompliance to state standards and has given the county until 2004 to bring low values up to par.
In addition to awarding the revaluation contract, assessors voted to return mapping services to Keck & Wood contractors. Currently the tax maintenance office contracts those services to the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center (RDC). Keck & Wood handled the county’s mapping services for several years prior to the RDC receiving the contract approximately two years ago.
Recent concerns with the mapping services being provided, prompted chief appraiser Brac Bohannon to consider a proposal from the former contractor. The proposal provides that Keck & Wood would update the mapping system beginning in 2000 to now at a cost of $25,000.
In an effort to clarify any misunderstandings of the tax maintenance office personnel operations, the assessors adopted, again, the county’s personnel policy. The board enacted the initial vote nearly three months ago.
“We’ll need to set policy on work hours,” said the chairman.
“We should leave the discretion of when employees are in the office up to Brac [chief appraiser],” said vice-chairman David Morrison. “We’ve already adopted that by putting them under the county’s personnel policy.”
“Yeah, but let’s do it again,” replied the chairman.
Discussion included public weekday office hours of 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., the non-use of compensation time beginning as of the vote and overtime payment consisting of time-and-a-half.
Each assessor agreed that all comp time accrued prior to the meeting would have to be discussed in a future meeting.
In the absence of the chief appraiser, Mr. Harrell reported that the office was in need of new hardware and software computer equipment. Additionally he reported that most of the educational seminars previously scheduled for the office personnel had been cancelled until further notice.
Office manager Phyllis Norwood updated the board on conservation applications, old and new. She said that the 2002 applications approved by the previous board had been filed in the Clerk of Superior Court’s office. Some 2003 applications were presented to the board for review including two denials, based on commercial usage; 12 approvals; and one still under consideration.
