Supervisors Approve Plan To Outsource Appraising
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Yalobusha County Tax Assessor/Collector Michael Walton (standing) presented a powerpoint about the advantages and cost of hiring an outside company to appraise property in the county. Walton’s presentation was in Monday’s Board of Supervisor meeting at the Water Valley courthouse.
WATER VALLEY – Yalobusha County supervisors voted unanimously to contract with S&S Appraisal to provide property appraisals for tax assessments in the county. The decision in Monday’s meeting followed a recommendation from Tax Assessor/Collector Michael Walton, who was elected in November and took office in January.
Walton started his presentation explaining that Yalobusha is only one of two counties in Mississippi where appraisals are done in-house by an elected assessor.
“About 15 or 16 years ago, the state really started wanting the assessors to get away from doing their own assessments,” Walton told supervisors.
Walton cited multiple factors for transitioning away from in-house appraising including community growth, mitigating errors of the tax assessor and safety of county employees.
“And one of the biggest issues they were having was fairness for all tax payers,” Walton added.
Walton said his recommendation to hire Louisville-based S&S Appraisal comes after evaluating multiple companies.
“One of the reasons I looked at this company is because they deal with counties our size. Our county has a little over 12,000 parcels,” Walton told supervisors.
Walton also said S&S Appraisal is highly recommended by tax assessors in Pontotoc County, Noxubee County and Monroe County, counties with similar number of parcels as Yalobusha.
Walton also cited multiple examples of market values of homes that have sold recently in Yalobusha County that were assessed much lower than actual value. Examples cited included a home on County Road 225 that sold for $168,000 and assessed at 48,000. A house on a lot in Deerwood Park sold for $132,000 and was assessed at 50,000 and another house sold for $220,000 and was assessed at 68,000.
Walton said the assessments are required to be around 70 to 80 percent of market value, depending on the class of property.
“With me being a new assessor, I want to make sure everything is done right. I have been getting a lot of information from our surrounding areas,” Walton said.
The annual cost of the contract with S&S Appraisal will be $94,672 and will start in August. Walton also said his reappraisal budget will be able to absorb approximately two-thirds of the cost in the coming years, with much of the savings coming when an employee in the tax office retires.
Also discussed in Monday’s meeting is that 2024 is an update year, meaning all properties in the county will be assessed. Walton said that inflation that started in 2020 has driven up the cost of property and the cost of building materials.
“I have heard from other counties, property assessments may increase as much as 20 to 25 percent,” Walton said about assessments. “We are not trying to raise anyone’s taxes, but we have guidelines from the Department of Revenue to follow.”
Also noted in the meeting is that supervisors have the final authority on taxation and can lower the tax rate to counter the increased value of property in the county.
Walton also cited a 2017 law that allows assessments for homeowners with disabilities or homeowners over the age of 65 to freeze the assessment at the current value for tax purposes, instead of receiving a higher value every few years. Homeowners can apply at the tax office for the benefit. Walton cautioned that the value of the home will increase if the homeowner decides to renovate or add on to the residence.
