Concerned with a report earlier in today's meeting from county Tax Assessor Charles Graham, Commissioner Rives Manning suggested using the sales tax in January.
Graham presented commissioners with an update on the four-year revaluation planned in 2015.
Graham noted in a memo to the board, “I think everyone is well aware of the struggling economy and its impact on real estate values.”
Before 2008, Graham noted, values could be expected to rise almost every year. “Tax assessors, using sales ratio studies, were able to fairly well predict how much a county's tax base would increase in a revaluation, but that is not the case today.”
More than half the sales that occurred in the past year have been foreclosure sales. “Hopefully, over the next three years, during which the revaluation will be conducted, there will be a recovery in the economy, including real estate values,” the document says. “However, there will almost certainly be some major value adjustments to properties in some areas of the county compared to lesser changes in other areas, and unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the economy and the real estate market, there could be a significant reduction in the county's tax base.”
That assessment prompted Manning to ask fellow board members to think about enacting the sales tax in January, “To give tax relief.”
County Manager Tony Brown said, however, he would be hesitant to enact it for lowering the tax rate when it might have to be used to balance the budget next year.
Voters approved the quarter cent sales tax in a referendum which saw less than 7 percent of the county's registered voters go to the polls.
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