With appraisal notices scheduled to be mailed this week, the value of Leflore County's real property for tax purposes is up 30 to 35 percent over the 1985 figures.
Tax Assessor Leroy Ware's office, along with the firm of Sanders & Associates, recently completed reappraisal of the county's real property. Ware reported some of the findings to the Board of Supervisors on Monday.
If the values are approved, this will be the first new set of figures since 1985. Under a new state law, all counties must finish their reappraisals by 2002, and property must be reappraised every four years thereafter.
A reappraisal was completed last year after four years of work, but the implementation of the new values was delayed out of a concern that property owners wouldn't have enough time to voice objections.
Ware said the extra year gave his office and Sanders & Associates more time to review their data and identify problem areas that had drawn the most protests - particularly downtown and the business district.
In general, North Greenwood property increased the most, Ware said. Some property in South Greenwood rose only 5 to 10 percent, and some values for downtown property dropped, he said.
Ware said that because of the slow economy, he had thought values would be lower than last year, especially in North Greenwood. However, that didn't happen.
"There were all indications that (valuations) had peaked out and value was going to start coming down, but the sales that we received just don't bear that out," he said.
Ware said the appraisal figures generate some negative reaction but don't really mean much until the tax rate is set. If the tax rate is reduced enough, the increase in appraised values might not have as much impact, he said.
Citizens who receive notices and have complaints may set up appointments with Ware's office between May 29 and June 8. That period can even be extended for another week or two if there are enough complaints, he said. Then the office will review the numbers and check for errors before turning the rolls over to the Board of Supervisors July 2.
Ware said he gave the supervisors lists of the property in their districts with projections of the values. Armed with those, he said, they should be able to "make sure that we've appraised similar houses similarly" and report any problems they see.
After the board approves the rolls, taxpayers not satisfied with their property values must file written complaints with Chancery Clerk Sam Abraham's office by Aug. 1, so the board can discuss them. If the supervisors reject a protest, the property owner may file suit in chancery court.
Ware said the county probably delayed its reappraisals longer than it should have. However, he added, the process of reappraising is very time-consuming.
"To try to come up with a market value of all the houses in this county, that's a tough job," he said.
Ware said it helped that a voluntary reappraisal had been started in 1996 or 1997, when Sara Kenwright was the assessor. As a result, a significant amount of the work was done when he took the job.
Sanders & Associates was paid $48,000 for this year's work, but Ware said the cost probably would have been higher if some of the work had not been done in-house.
Ware said the extra year had advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, there was more time to double-check areas where there had been complaints and fix mathematical errors. However, he said, one disadvantage was that some of the areas just reappraised last year had to be examined again to update the values.
The appraisers started with commercial property downtown and in the business district. From there they evaluated commercial property along U.S. 82, then the Greenwood-Leflore Industrial Park and then North Greenwood. They talked to businesspeople and property owners and also checked with Realtors to ensure that property values were in line.
Some property owners complained last year about the steep increases in values, but that is to be expected when the property hasn't been appraised in so long, Ware said.
"When you talk about 15 years of historic value against current market value, sometimes that is a very significant increase in valuation," he said.
Some reported increases of 200 percent or more in last year's bills, but Ware said most of those resulted from errors or from additions to the property. The additions could include an entire floor that was not measured in 1985 or something that has been added since then, he said.
Ware said some taxpayers also have other misconceptions about the increases, trying to compare land from different parts of town. A house in South Greenwood may look identical to one in North Greenwood, but the bills will be different because North Greenwood property can be sold for more money, Ware said.
Ware told the board that the State Tax Commission has delayed some additional charges it was going to impose on catfish farmers. The commission voted in March to add $1,000 per water acre to the land value of the ponds. However, it will do more studies and wait until next year before making changes.
In the future, more regular reappraisals will mean less drastic increases, Ware said. Then updates will just be "a normal thing of doing business."
"Hopefully in a couple of years we'll be back to normal, and from then on things should be running smoothly," he said.
