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By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - Pike County Commissioners held three public hearings to hear from the public on HB 581 before making a final vote at Tuesday night’s meeting. Some of the commissioners even attended public hearings in other counties in an effort to gain information to bring back to the meetings.
In the end, there was a 4-1 vote to opt out of the legislation with the dissenting vote not against opting out, but against the commissioners leaving things open ended with their motion.
Discussion
Charles McKeechern, an 18 year Chief Appraiser from another county, gave a presentation to commissioners and members of the public who were in attendance at the meeting.
He said that the floating homestead exemption would be based on an exemption but that market values will still move and be maintained yearly with there being no guarantee of the benefit of the homestead. He also advised that the law was written to address extreme changes in the market.
Commissioners asked questions and discussed the thought that many homeowners might feel like this would cap their individual property taxes or freeze the assessments, but there are some unknowns in this legislation that leave an uncertainty of where the county will be in 5 years.
Interim County Manager / County Attorney Rob Morton recommended opting out and suggested that the county pursue local legislation that can accomplish a similar exemption here in Pike County.
Chairman Briar Johnson said that he agreed with opting out only if we as a county do something for our citizens with local legislation that accomplishes something similar. “We cannot opt out and have no other plan,” he said.
Commissioner Ken Pullin said that long-term home ownership should mean something and that the same goes for the elderly. He said that he supported the intent behind the bill but doesn’t support freezing on 2024 assessments here in Pike County. He asked, Could we opt out now and maybe look at opting in during 2026 when our assessments are better prepared?
Commissioner Tim Daniel suggesting holding a workshop to discuss this in order to come up with a plan because there is a clean up bill for the clean up bill out there and just too much unknown at this time. Morton told commissioners that they could add a deadline to the motion and that the county will have a better idea on our assessments after July 1.
The motion was made to opt out of HB 581 with an intent to present local legislation no sooner than the 2026 legislative session. The motion passed 4-1 with Pullin opposed.
Pullin said that he supported opting out but does not support opting out with this being so open ended.
Closing
Pike County Times will continue to follow this discussion as well as continuing to attend meetings of the Pike County Board of Assessors which is the governing authority over the Tax Assessor’s Office which sets the assessment values on all properties in the county.
Employees from the Tax Assessor’s Office are in the process of walking every property in the county under a Consent Order that the Pike County Board of Commissioners signed with the State Department of Revenue. This process of walking of the more than 10,000 properties in the county is mandated to be completed in a 3 year cycle with 1/3 being appraised each year to ensure that the assessments are correct.
Local tax relief has been part of the discussion in both County Commission and Board of Education meetings since both entities have their own budgets and set their own millage rates that make up the taxes that business, home, and property owners pay earch year. Both the County Commissioners and the Board of Education opted out of HB 581.Click here to read about Tax Assessor meetings: pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor12.9.24.html. Look for updates from this year's meetings on the home page for Pike County Times. A link to all of the meetings that I have reported upon is below the write up from each meeting.
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