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County establishes cities' fees for appraisals
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CANTRELL

 

While mayors in three DeKalb County cities sent letters formally asking that the county waive fees for county tax appraisals, the county commission adopted a plan to initiate the fees in increments.

 

After the recent discovery of a state law that has been on the books for 28 years requiring cities that collect property tax to pay some of the county’s costs of appraisals unless some other agreement is in place, the applicable fees were included in the county budget.

 

Assessor of Property Shannon Cantrell was informed of the existence of the law at a recent meeting of assessors, passed the information along to County Mayor Stribling. Cantrell also informed members of the county budget committee, the city mayors, and the county commissioners at the request of the mayor.

 

Smithville Mayor Jimmy Poss, Liberty Mayor Dwight Mathis and Alexandria Mayor Bennett Armstrong recently sent letters to Stribling and the county commission, saying that their cities had enough trouble without added fees.

 

The letter reads:

 

“We the mayors of the City of Smithville, Town of Liberty, and Town of Alexandria would like to state our opposition to a proposal requiring the towns to pay one half of the reappraisal dues within the town limits of each municipality. Each municipality feels that the attempt to collect this fee is both unreasonable and unnecessary. Each municipality is struggling with their own budgets and do not need another assessment for the citizens. Therefore we respectfully request that the county commission refrain from approving this reassessment fee against the towns.”

 

The law demands that local costs of reappraisal of real properties within a city shall be paid one half by the county and one half by the city in the absence of another agreement. Any city paying one half of local costs of reappraisal shall pay those costs directly to the county government with jurisdiction over the property being reappraised, and shall pay those costs during the fiscal year in which the reappraisal is finalized.

 

State law also requires cities to be responsible for sharing in the county’s costs of contracted personal property audits.

 

The city of Dowelltown does not collect a city property tax rate, and would not be affected.

 

Smithville’s share of the pie would be $14,718 for real property parcels and $1,514 for its share of personal property auditing, while it would cost Liberty $1,295 for real property parcels and $6.00 for personal property auditing. Alexandria’s would pay $2,814 for real property parcels and $20.00 for personal property auditing.

 

A motion made by Commissioner Joe Johnson, however, led to a vote Monday night to establish payment in increments to allow the municipalities time to adjust their budgets accordingly. The commission voted to allow the cities to pay one-third of the amount this year, two thirds next year, and the full amount in three years to allow them more time to budget for the charges. The vote was 11-2, with Commissioners Kevin Robinson and Julie Young voting against the measure. Commissioner Anita Puckett was absent.

 

Smithville will be required to pay approximately $5,410 this year under the plan. Liberty will be charged about $434, and Alexandria will be required to pay approximately $944.