Tax Rolls Indicate Decline In Assessed Value
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Yalobusha County Tax Assessor/Collector Michael Walton (standing) presented the tax rolls to county supervisors during the July 1 meeting at the Coffeeville courthouse.
COFFEEVILLE – Budget time for the county is approaching and supervisors learned the tax base has decreased slightly from the previous year. Yalobusha County Tax Assessor/Collector Michael Walton presented the 2024 tax rolls to supervisors during the July 1 board meeting in Coffeeville.
Walton’s figures revealed the taxable value of the land roll has increased slightly with valuation of 55,699,252, up 346,346 from the previous year. The increase was not enough to offset a decrease in the personal roll that dropped 1,935,761 from the previous year to 24,725,242. The overall decline in assessed value was 1,589,415.
“There was no big equipment added to our industries this year, our businesses just did not add a lot of major equipment this year,” Walton explained about the decline in the personal roll.
Walton also reported the tax roll includes 16 new homes constructed in the last year, up slightly from the previous year.
“That is why the land roll value was a little more this year,” he told supervisors.
The taxable value of the county this year is 78,848,835, a figure that includes the land roll and personal roll in addition to automobile tags, the mobile home roll and public utility roll minus homestead exemptions and industrial tax exemptions. That means one mill will generate approximately $78,848.
With Walton’s presentation of the tax rolls, the public now has the right to inspect their assessment as declared by the tax assessor. Any objections must be filed in writing with the Chancery Clerk’s office on or before August 5. Hearings are scheduled at 9 p.m. on August 5 at the Water Valley courthouse and again on August 6 at the same time at the Coffeeville courthouse.
The tax assessor-collector’s visit to Monday’s meeting was in compliance with state law regulating tax procedures. That process culminates each year during September when supervisors adopt a budget for the new fiscal year that starts in October. Using Walton’s figures, supervisors will work in subsequent meetings to determine the millage rate.
Other action in the July 1 meeting included:
• Approved the sale of three acres of property behind the Yalobusha County Detention Center on Hwy. 32. The City of Water Valley will purchase the property to expand the size of a proposed micro solar farm. City officials inked a deal in May with Renewvia to build the solar farm that will be comprised of solar panels that harness energy from the sun and transform it into energy that will be transmitted to the electric grid.
Supervisors agreed to sell the property for $10,000 per acre, the same amount that was paid for the property when the county purchased it in 2014. The purchase agreement was approved unanimously and the city will make 36 equal monthly installments of $833.34 to the county. The payments will start on June 1, 2025.
• Approved a request for travel expenses and registration fees for the county’s five election commissioners to attend election training in August in Philadelphia, Miss.
• Approved the fourth quarter budget appropriations for the sheriff’s department and tax assessor/collector. The approval for the departments to spend the final 25 percent of the budgets followed the review of expenditures for the first three quarters of the fiscal year for both departments.
Chancery Clerk Donald Gray reported both departments were within their overall budget. Gray said the tax office budget has expended 74.4 percent of the budget with one-fourth of the budget year remaining. Gray also said the sheriff’s budget is at 68.2 percent.
“I think it deserves to be noted that the sheriff is doing an excellent job,” Board President Cayce Washington noted. “We previously had problems with our law enforcement agency’s budget. They have to keep the criminals off the street, but they historically went over (budget).”
Washington also thanked Sheriff Jerimaine Gooch for keeping his department within the budgeted expenditures.
Washington also noted that Yalobusha County Tax Assessor/Collector is doing a great job.
“Especially being new,” Washington added.
• Approved a request for travel expenses and registration fees for Jacquline Spencer to attend the Justice Court Clerk’s Association in September.
• Started the process for the county to clean up property at 2175 County Road 80. District 5 Supervisor Gaylon Gray reported he has attempted to contact the landowner to request the property be cleaned up and grass cut.
“It is affecting their neighbors,” Gray said about the overgrown property. “I have to do something.”
Board Attorney Shannon Crow advised Gray that the next step is scheduling a public hearing to determine if the property is a menace to the public health. The hearing will likely be held on August 5, and a notice will be placed on front door of the residence.
• Approved a request from Zaid Ahamb to open a vehicle salvage yard on property located in southwest Yalobusha County off of County Road 233. The property is known as the old Lehman Roberts plant near Scobey. The approval was granted after Ahamb provided documentation that the salvage yard will comply with restrictions in the county’s land use plan known as Stewardship Yalobusha. The requirements include erecting a fence around the property.
The Yalobusha County Board of Supervisors approved a request from Zaid Ahamb (left) to open a salvage yard on property west of Hwy. 51 in the southwestern corner of the county. Amamb provided documentation that the salvage yard will comply with county’s land use restriction.
