It is a virtual certainty that Wilkes County taxpayers won't see a tax bill for their 2009 taxes before the end of the year. They may see their assessment notices as early as sometime in November but the time required to allow for appeals will prevent the issuance of actual tax bills before the end of December.

In summarizing the current situation for the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners at their regular October meeting, Bill Steed, chairman of the Board of Tax Assessors explained that the county has been under a court order to reassess all the residential properties for the first time since about 1992. Because of that, he said, there was an enormous amount of information that changed and all of that must be entered into the system before notices can go out.

"We went statewide to try to get help to do the data entry," Steed said, "and we got only two people." He said that Ramona Powell and another qualified tax appraiser have been working long and extended hours. "They have a tremendous amount of the data entry done," Steed continued, "but it's going to be a month or maybe more before that have it all completed."

Steed went on to explain that at the beginning of the process, it was estimated that around 30 percent of the properties in the system would need some kind of update. It turned out that 94 percent are having to be updated "because over the years, people have taken houses down, put houses up, remodeled houses, and added things to properties that were not reported." All of that information has to be entered into the system before new assessment notices can be sent.

Once the assessment notices are sent, property owners have 45 days in which to appeal. Those appeals must then be settled until no more than three percent remain. Only then will the state consider approving the tax digest and only after the state grants approval may the actual tax bills be issued.

Commissioners also approved the county's Service Delivery Strategy update which determines how the various services and programs are funded and provided by the county and its three municipalities. The 10- year strategy is required by the state and helps to prevent duplication of services and to divide support of certain services among the governments.

"After quite a bit of discussion," County Administrator David Tyler reported, "the primary services that needed to be addressed for changes in this update were tourism, the Kettle Creek Battlefield, the Downtown Development Authority, veterans services, economic development, Family Connection, the Senior Center, and the Payroll Development Authority." Each one of those was addressed as to funding and other specifics.

The commissioners approved the Service Delivery Strategy which will in turn be presented for approval by the cities of Washington, Tignall, and Rayle.

All of the commissioners, Div- enski Lee, Ed Geddings, Chairman Sam Moore, John Howard, and Jerry Stover, as well as County Attorney Charles LeGette and Tyler were in attendance at the meeting held last Thursday, October 8, in the courthouse board room at 2 p.m.

In other business:

l The commissioners agreed to hire Carter Watkins and Associates of Monroe for a proposed architectural design contract for the renovation of the Wilkes County courthouse. Funding for the project is already provided by local option sales tax. Carter Watkins' stated fee is five percent. Moore said the firm was recommended by the RDC and has experience in working with counties comparable in size and in keeping things historically correct.

l A federally mandated policy on privacy was adopted for the Wilkes County EMS. Director Blake Thompson said that the practices were already in place and being followed, and that the adoption is just a matter of putting it all in writing.

l Commissioners heard an "enthusiastic" update on the reopening of the Robert Toombs House under local control. Curator Marcia Campbell said the property is currently being cleaned and she thanked the commissioners for their efforts in taking over the operation of the site after the state closed it late last spring. Moore, in turn, expressed great appreciation to Campbell, saying, "No one has as much knowledge of the property as you do. We really appreciate your help."

l Tourism Director Ashley Barnett reported on scheduled events for October and November and reminded the group about Mule Day to be held on Saturday, October 10.

l Stover announced that it was National 4-H Week and expressed appreciation to the Wilkes County 4-H clubs for all they do for the development of young people in the community.

l Tyler announced that Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax received for the month of July amounted to $139,572.05 and Local Option Sales Tax was $90,721.86 for the same month. It was noted that those amounts are much higher than the average but no one could offer an explanation of why.

There were several requests for tax relief which were dispensed as follows:

l Robert Hudson asked for a tax refund on ad valorem tax for 2009 he paid on a car which he later sold early in the year. The request was denied because no mistakes were made and there was no basis for a refund.

l Relief on interest and penalties for unpaid taxes on a 1981 mobile home abandoned by its tenant was granted "as a matter of common sense" to lot owner Wayne Madden, who agreed to pay the taxes.

l Relief was granted to the Church of Christ for taxes paid in 2007 and 2008. The church applies for relief because it was operating as a church but not billed as such.

l Walter Tuttle was granted relief on his 2008 taxes because a Homestead Exemption formerly applied to the property had been removed in error resulting in overpayment of taxes.

l Three years of tax relief were granted to Willie Thomas Gresham for two houses that had been torn down and one that had burned. Those changes had not been reported to the tax assessors office so the tax bills did not change. LeGette pointed out that "past policy has been one of generosity ... due to this kind of mistake" but that the county's limit was three years of relief.

l Henry Strother was granted three years of relief on a mobile home he sold to Linda Weaver in 2004. Taxes had been double-billed in error.

The next regular meeting of the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners will be held on Thursday, November 12, at 7 p.m. in the Wilkes County courthouse.