Commissioners ultimately responsible for assessments

TO THE EDITOR:

The easiest thing to do about anything is nothing and I must admit the older I become the easier it is to not make the effort and take the time to take a position concerning public affairs. But considering what I have learned about county property valuations, I find it compelling to share some information and my views.

I think we all know that our county commissioners do not establish property values nor do they have the authority to change them. However, they do hire, pay, and appoint the employees and board with the authority and responsibility to do so. To me this is not unlike me, as owner and CEO of M & M Office Products, not being the technician who sees that our customers' copiers are properly serviced and maintained, but I do hire, assign, and pay the technicians with the responsibility. If I told or implied to our customers that I had no authority concerning service issues, it would just be a matter of time until I did not have a job or business.

I received notices of property value changes and I want to share this:

1) 16-acre tract valued at $24,120 was increased to $89,335

2) 47-acre tract valued at $51,756 was increased to $234,313

3) 65-acre tract valued at $81,933 was increased to $272,636

I had learned that some notices of increases were in error and when I went to the assessors office I was told that 2 and 3 (47and 65-acre tracts) were in error. The entire increase on 2 and 3 was cancelled making valuations unchanged, but

was told the 16-acre tract was correct and valid because it was under 30 acres.

I pose this simple and basic question. What property owner, realtor, or tax assessor in Wilkes County does not know that tracts 2 and 3 have increased in value and much more importantly, how many other tracts throughout the county over 30 acres are undervalued by assessors?

I find employees in the tax assessor's office to be courteous and seemingly wanting to do the right thing although I believe that they must be lacking the proper guidance and have their priorities wrong. We constantly hear from our commissioners and our tax assessors concerning what the state authorities will and will not allow. If the first priority was accurate, fair, and equitable property valuations for the taxpayers within state guidelines, I believe, it is unlikely the two would be conflicting.

I am told that the assessor's office cannot do a countywide revaluation in a given year unless authorized and that it is also too costly. This is hard to follow considering information about our property is already in the computer and to change it requires only that some qualified person input factors to increase or decrease value. These factors would be based on sales experience, building cost, state requirements, etc. I am told that large-scale valuations require a lot of riding and looking and thereby significant expense. Why does someone need to look at a parcel of property already in the computer and already being taxed for the computer to apply valid value change factors?

Property and homeowners in the Logan Woods area have experienced 40-50 percent increases in values in the past two short years. Meanwhile, a massive segment of the overall tax base has increased none at all.

In 2005 we were hit with drastic increases in land values based on sales experience. In 2006, it's building value factor going from $25 to $45 per square foot. In an effort to get along and go along, I did not appeal either year, but considering what I know now I am going to turn my property in January 2007 at the value it was prior to the increases and insist that it not be changed until other property values are brought in line.

If it is changed, I will appeal it based solely on other property in the county being under-valued. Logan Woods homeowners will find their tax bills this year to be near 50% more than they were in 2004. Other property owners in this area and throughout the county being over taxed should turn their property in at reduced value in January 2007 and hold out for fairness in valuation and taxation.

At the present I believe the tax assessor's first concern is to keep state regulators happy and then tell taxpayers we did what we could and had to within state guidelines. This needs to be flipped upside down and start keeping taxpayers happy and tell the state we did what we had to do.

The only reason we have state oversight is because so many counties were not keeping values current. If we keep our values reasonably current, which we are not, it is unlikely that we will not be in compliance with required state guidelines.

In summary, there is no way around the fact that property valuation and tax millage rates are directly or indirectly the burden and responsibility of our elected county commissioners. There are things far beyond our control affecting our declining local economy and unfortunately our county and school system needs more money for their budgets, but we should expect fair taxation based on accurate, fair, and equitable property values used for taxation. I respectfully request that all our county commissioners accept the responsibility of our Tax Assessor's office.

I take this opportunity to say thank you, Board of Education, for having the wisdom and good judgment to put our new school building project on hold. Hopefully, it will become a reality when our economy turns and things are better.

J. WAYNE MADDEN

(Portions of this letter, in excess of this newspaper's policy limitation, are paid for by the author.)

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