www.venmo.com/u/pikecountytimes, $pikecountytimes, and PayPal.Me/PikeCountyTimesLLC.
Editor Becky Watts: Phone # 770-468-7583 editor(@)pikecountytimes.com
Consider buying an advertisement for your business or sending a donation to Pike County Times to support the only free online newspaper in Pike County. Donations can be sent to: The Pike County Times, PO Box 843, Zebulon, Georgia 30295. You can also donate through www.venmo.com/u/pikecountytimes, $pikecountytimes, and PayPal.Me/PikeCountyTimesLLC.
Thanks for supporting Pike County's only free online newspaper!
ZEBULON - Members present Christopher Tea, Parrish Swift, Lyn Smith, Gary Hammock, and Tim Ingram. Also present Chief Appraiser Greg Hammock, Appraiser Emily Morris, and County Attorney Rob Morton. Public present: Steven Spencer from Traylor Business Services and Becky Watts from Pike County Times.
Called to Order 4:35 p.m.
Approval of the Agenda
Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
Approval of the October 15, 2024 Minutes.
Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
Public Comment: None.
Invited Guest: Steven Spencer from Traylor Business Services.
Motion to amend the agenda for New Business Item A to hear it now. Approved 5-0.
Do the outsource function for counties around Georgia. Done 80 counties in the past 30 years. Worked with Pike in 2022 and did the cell towers. Personal property. Business Personal Property Returns. The county assesses that. Can contract out for this. Board of Assessors determines who is being audited. Random sample overall. Preliminary planning letter to let businesses know that they have been selected for an audit, then the business is asked for records and info, then another letter for a walk through at the business, then they process the info against the PT-50 that is filed by the business. Usually audit for 3 years but can go back as far as 7 years. Give findings to the tax payer and the Tax Assessor’s Office. Also send out a letter to ask how they did to ensure that their people are kind and courteous as they performed this job.
We are a Georgia based business and have done about 20,000 audits over the past 30 years. We try to be quick and efficient.
Proposal was provided. 238 accounts the last time. $105,000 cost. Got back $263,000. Got back 2 ½ dollars back for each.
13 audits cell towers. Found $3.4 million. Cost $6,000. Projected 18,000 in taxes. Got $9,005 for that county.
Worked for the county in 2022 for cell towers. Not finding new equipment. Finding categories where things were not classified as they should be. We support the findings. If we quote you a price, that is what the price is regardless of what is found.
Bid is arrived at the Board of Assessors and the Board of Commissioners coming up with the budget. There is a price for each business based on how much they bring in.
Class 1: 2655 accounts under $50,000
Class 2: 93 accounts from $50,001 to $250,000
Class 3: 32 accounts $250,001 to $1 million
Class 4: 13 accounts $1 million and one dollar to $5 million
Class 5: 5 accounts $5 million and one dollar to $50 million
Class 6: 1 account that is $50 million and one dollars
Price would be $1.2 million to do every account. Hobbs. The Department of Revenue says that we need to do all of the accounts.
If the Board of Assessors is interested in moving forward… how do we move forward? Can do the entire process in a 3 year period. Cell towers, then big business, then Mom and Pop businesses. How many level 1,2,3,4, and 5’s do you want to do at a time?
Can also do a digest review. Ware County walked through this process. More than a 15% decrease in a year without an explanation from a business could trigger an audit. They compared ratio’s. Did that satisfy the Department of Revenue? It has so far.
Morton. Digest review is $43,090 versus $1.2 million to do the review. Spencer. DOR requires an on-site review as well as the audit. Morton. They did not do every parcel in Ware County? Spencer. Not all, no. Did a stratified sample that was approved by the DOR. McIntosh County was different because they combined everything. Ware County. Audits in 2 years and Digest Reviews.
Morton. We want to satisfy the spirit of the DOR but want to do this as cheaply as possible. Spencer. Need to work with the DOR on this to get a clarification from the DOR as you move forward. All taxpayers should be treated fairly and equitably. Morton. The option would be do you want to investigation further for options. We need to be able to present this to the DOR and ask if audits and reviews will satisfy them. There is precedent because other counties have done this, and it was acceptable.
Spencer. They provided the guidance on what to do. Going to do so many accounts and then do a review. $7500 or more and a deviation of 15%. And the $7500 is going up to $20,000 so things are fixing to change. Swift. How many employees? 13. How many will be working with us? All of them based on their job specifications. Brian and Linda Taylor and Steven Spencer. Owners.
Swift. How long would it take for our people to do this? DOR says that we need someone to do this full-time or outsource. Hobbs. Audit as many as can for the biggest amount as possible. Morton. Set a threshold and make an adjustment to $20,000. We want to take action now to get this started. Spencer. Need to be sure that this is ok with the DOR. Morton. Allow Hobbs to do more research to set the threshold and the budget. Go along with the suggested review and identify what needs to be audited. $43,090 for digest review for sure.
Spencer. This will likely be over a 3 year period. Digest review and audit proposals. There is a piece of paper for each process so everyone knows what is expected of them.
Chief Appraiser Report
Continuing to work on the digest. Many of the buildings on the exempt property list were either left off or just missed. They are working to improve the digest.
7 remaining appeals. If unable to reach a settle, they will go to the Board of Equalization.
Staff went to training last week.
Asking to cancel the first meeting in December but still have the December 17th meeting. Asking to change the meeting dates from Tuesday to Thursday so the county attorney can be at meetings. Discussion about morning meetings (instead of 11 a.m.) will be held at the next meeting.
Submitted a current sales ratio study for all property classes for review by the Board per the Consent Order.
Old Business
Board consideration of CUVA
7.37 acre tract. Timber needs to be thinned for new trees according to a timber person. This is not a viable logging opportunity. She wants to put less than 10 acres in CUVA, and Hobbs recommends denial. Motion to deny. 4-1 with Christopher Tea. The law stipulates that if they provide a suitable reason, it can be in CUVA. Hobbs. We have a lot of properties undervalued. Discussion. It should be something that makes money.
New Business
a. Traylor Business – Postponed.
b. Correction for life estate and add Homestead removed in error for Marshal.
When the deed came through, the homestead was removed when it should not have been. Asked to put it back on. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
c. Homestead was removed in error.
Motion to put it back on. Approved 5-0.
d. Eligible for Veterans Exemption. 100% per VA letter. Golias.
Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
e. Eligible for 2022,23, and 24 for Homestead.
His bill will be credited. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
f. Exempt properties owned by the Pike Board of Commissioners.
They have bills that they will not owe on these properties. Motion to exempt these properties. Discussion: They bought it last year. Motion to approve the exemption. Approved 5-0.
g. Correction of homestead for 2022, 23, and 24.
Motion to establish the homestead. Approved 5-0.
h. Correction of homestead from L4 to L7.
Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
i. Correction of homestead.
Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
Discussion. Why is this happening? Hobbs. The DOR checked it, and there are still people finding the homestead exemptions have been dropped.
j. Correction of homestead for L4 for 23 and 24.
Motion to approve. Discussion: This is an age qualification. Approved 5-0.
k. Non-disclosure.
Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
l. Approval of updated aerial flights for Pike County By Eagle View per consent order.
Tea. Wants to know if Google Satellite can be substituted and how much it will cost. $101,886 in installments. $17,000 for 5 years with an initial $17,000 due in the beginning. They want to fly Pike with Meriwether. Swift. I don’t use Google Imagery. Eagle View measures the property. Discussion on how accurate this is. Google Imagery that overlays the GIS with the properties overlaid on this. Is there a cost with this? Tea. We are required to have a flyover every 3 years and haven’t done this since 2012, but will they re-fly in 3 years? Or are we paying for one flyover for 6 years? Is this a viable option? Want to do this when the leaves are off of the trees.
Going to postpone this to get some more information. Hobbs is going to contact Q Public. Motion to postpone. Approved 5-0.
m. Request for Proposals for Pike County Complete Revaluation to qualified vendors without a completion date.
Discussion: Send this again without a completion date and let them know that there is a company that is ready to start. Motion to approve resending the request without a specific completion date per the consent order. Approved 5-0.
Morton has to leave for another meeting. Motion to move up the executive session. Approved 5-0.
Executive Session 5:49 p.m.
Back in session. 5:53 p.m.
Motion for retroactive pay for Dusty. Approved 5-0.
n. Voluntary Breach in CUVA. Been in CUVA 3 times over 20 years. No penalty.
Motion to breach with no penalty. Approved 5-0.
o. Correction of square footage.
2021, 22, and 23. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
p. Harris and Divco Data.
We’re with Harris. They’ve been reliable. Swift. Satisfied with Harris? Hobbs. Yes. Motion to go with Harris. Approved 5-0.
q. Approval of 2025 boats and NADA updates for manufactured and mobile homes.
Motion to update both. Approved 5-0.
r. Approval of previous year’s value.
She was told that she would get this for 2 years, but it came off so we need to put it back on for one year. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
s. Heritage Lake fees.
Need to look at and make sure that everything is uniform for everyone. Hasn’t been paid since 2015. $4.93 per year. This is for the common area there. Policy and Procedure Manual addresses this, and it is mentioned in the Consent Order too. Motion to postpone to be sure that we are being consistent. Approved 5-0.
t. Business closed in 2023.
Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
u. Correction of square footage for 2022, 23, and 24.
Motion to send to commissioners and recommend approval and refund because the attic was not finished. Approved 5-0.
v. Policy and Procedures Manual
Motion to postpone. Approved 5-0.
Real Property.
a. None.
b. None.
c. 3 waivers for 2024 with Fair Market Value Revision.
Motion to approve the revisions as recommended by the staff. Approved 5-0.
d. Correction of acreage on Spinks
Properties were supposed to be combined. Motion to correct the acreage. Approved 5-0.
e. Correction of CUVA Brubaker.
CUVA did not transfer over this year. Motion to correct this. Approved 5-0.
f. Correction of CUVA Nichols
CUVA did not transfer over this year. Motion to correct this. Approved 5-0.
g. Correction of acreage per plat. Staff recommends approval.
Acreage is wrong on both based on the plat. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
h. Correction FLPA removed in error.
It was not expired and should not have come off. Motion to correct this. Approved 5-0.
Personal Property.
a. Pope. 2005 Chevy Silverado
$2,000 purchase price. $7,482 paid on the tag. NADA $8,225. Average Trade In. $5,225. From Ohio with rust and basic truck. Being consistent in their motions. Motion to go with $5,225. Approved 5-0.
b. Young. 2011 Dodge Ram
6000 paid for it. Valued at 11,000. 8975 for NADA. Motion to go with 8975. Approved 5-0.
c. Fransen. 2006 Chevy Avalanche.
FMV $5825. Average price for trade in $4575. Discussion: Require a bill of sale. Motion to set it at $4575. Approved 5-0.
Public Comment. None.
Board Member Comment.
Motion to adjourn. 6:16 p.m.
Here are links to past meetings that Pike County Times has attended.
[Note from the Editor: I attended September and October meetings that will go online at some point.]
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - August 20, 2024 - 11 a.m.
http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor8.5.24.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - August 5, 2024 - 11 a.m.
http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor8.5.24.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - July 16, 2024 - 4 p.m.
http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor7.16.24.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - June 18, 2024 - 11 a.m.
http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor6.18.24.html
Board of Assessors Leaves Sales Ratio at $91 Per Square Foot
By Editor Becky Watts
http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor6.3.24.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - May 21, 2024 - 11 a.m.
http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor5.21.24.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - March 7, 2024 - 11 a.m.
http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor3.7.24.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - February 6, 2024 - 4:30 p.m.
http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor2.6.24.html
Click here to read: "BREAKING NEWS: Commission Votes to Appeal Fine and Request a State Review of the Board of Assessors" http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BREAKINGNEWSrequestforreview2.2.24.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - January 18, 2024 - 11:00 AM
http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor1.18.24.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - January 4, 2024 - 11:00 AM
http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor1.4.24.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - December 19, 2023 - 11:00 AM
http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor12.19.23.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - December 5, 2023 - 11:30 AM
http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor12.5.23.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - November 9, 2023 - 11:30 AM
http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor11.9.23.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - October 17, 2023 - 11:00 AM
http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor10.17.23.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - October 3, 2023 - 11:00 AM
http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor10.3.23.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - September 19, 2023 - 11:00 AM
http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor9.19.23.html
BOARD OF ASSESSORS REGULAR MEETING - September 7, 2023 - 11:00 AM
http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor9.7.23.html