September 22, 2010 - 9:00 AM - County Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes (Special)

10 109 Meeting of the Johnston County Board of Commissioners September 22 , 2010 9 00 am The Johnston County Board of Commissioners met in special session Wednesday , September 22 , 2010 at 9 00 am in the Commissioners Meeting Room , Johnston County Courthouse Annex , Smithfield , North Carolina The following members were present Present Wade M Stewart , Chairman , Allen L Mims , Jr , Vice Chairman , Cookie Pope , Jeffrey P Carver , DeVan Barbour , W Ray Woodall and Tony Braswell Absent None Also Present Rick J Hester , County Manager , Paula G Woodard , Clerk to the Board , J Chad McLamb , Finance Officer , Pat Goddard , Tax Administrator , and Melissa A Daughtry , Paralegal Deputy Clerk Chairman Wade M Stewart called the meeting to order at 9 00 am and the following business was transacted 1 Announcement – Public Hearing – Economic Development Incentive Grant Tabled from the September 7 , 2010 10 00 am Meeting The Chairman announced that at the company’s request , the Economic Development Incentive Grant public hearing scheduled for today has been postponed and re - advertised to be held at the Board’s next regular meeting on October 4 , 2010 at 10 00 am 2 Public Hearing – Proposed Schedule for 2011 County Tax Revaluation Advertised in The Smithfield Herald – September 8 and 15 , 2010 Chairman Wade M Stewart opened the public hearing and stated the purpose of the hearing is to solicit public comment on the proposed Schedules , Standards and Rules to be used for the Johnston County 2011 Property Tax Revaluation Chairman Stewart asked the Tax Administrator to make opening comments Tax Administrator Pat Goddard stated that a copy of the proposed schedules , standards and rules have been available for public inspection in the County Tax Administrators ’ Office since the September 7 , 2010 Board of Commissioners meeting and to date , there have been no inquiries regarding the schedule Ms Goddard reported the public hearing is required by law as one of the steps in the revaluation process She stated the Board will consider the adoption of the schedule at the October 4 , 2010 10 00 am meeting Ms Goddard offered to answer any questions by the Board or the public Commissioner Tony Braswell inquired if the Tax Office planned to hold meetings offsite in other areas of the County for informal appeals Ms Goddard reported the Tax Office has arranged to hold meetings for informal appeals at the Clayton Center , the Town of Smithfield Council Chambers , and the Agricultural Building She noted they are working on holding additional meetings in Kenly and Benson if technology issues can be finalized Ms Goddard provided the following approximate timeline of events • Notices to be sent to property owners in late November early December ; • Respond to telephone inquiries to answer questions or schedule informal appeals ; • Informal appeals heard in December and January as well as respond to mailed inquires in January ; • Board of Equalization and Review to begin meeting in April for formal appeals Commissioner Braswell asked Ms Goddard to explain the difference between formal and informal appeals as well as approximately how many appeals she expected for the 2011 Revaluation Ms Goddard explained that the informal appeals are handled at the Tax Office level and she noted that at any given time during the informal appeal process , there will be up to eight people on hand to assist with the appeals Ms Goddard stated that formal appeals are addressed by the Board of Equalization and Review She commented that during the 2003 Revaluation , approximately 90 of the appeals were handled informally Ms Goddard reported it is difficult to guess how many appeals would come in ; however , it is hoped that only 10 will appeal which equals approximately 9,000 property owners for a best case scenario Page110 September 22 , 2010 – 9 00 am Continued Fred Pearson , Pearson Appraisals , stated that he expects less appeals than with the 2003 Revaluation simply because the County has not had as much of an increase in value as in 2003 Commissioner DeVan Barbour asked if the schedule had been made available for inspection at the local municipalities for their specific jurisdictions Ms Goddard responded that the schedule was made available in the Tax Office for the entire County Chairman Stewart recognized Mr Jeffrey Lee , Chairman of the Board of Equalization and Review , in the audience and thanked Mr Lee and his fellow Board members for their service to the County , noting they put in a lot of hours Ms Goddard commented that the Tax Office has been trying to schedule meetings with each of the Board of Equalization and Review members to discuss their respective districts in that they have a better understanding for their own areas and can share valuable information Chairman Stewart inquired as to the process by which the Tax Office arrived at the Present Use Value Schedule Ms Goddard stated the Present Use Value Schedule is not determined by the Tax Office She reported the Tax Office uses the “ 2011 Use Value Manual for Agricultural , Horticulture , and Forest Land ” which is published by the North Carolina Use Value Advisory Board and the North Carolina Department of Revenue Ms Goddard explained that Johnston County falls under two districts that are established by the State of North Carolina and in 2003 legislation was passed that required cash rents to be considered in the calculations She added that to account for the cash rents , the State , with the help of the local Cooperative Extension Offices , sent out surveys to all farmers to determine the actual cash rents being paid Ms Goddard stated the values are based on cash rents from the surveys that were returned She stated the schedule is the average of the two districts ’ cash rents Chairman Stewart questioned the cash rents in the calculation Ms Goddard responded that the value is based on the cash rent and the probable income stream , or yield , to determine what the land would be worth to the farmer Chairman Stewart asked has the base value of forestry land and open land , outside of the Present Use Program parcels , been published , noting that it differs throughout the County Ms Goddard stated the Tax Office is still reviewing the sales information and would like to have vacant land sales information from September and October considered before finalizing the land values She noted the value depends on the neighborhood which is one of the reasons that staff has been meeting with each of the Board of Equalization and Review members to get more information about their areas Ms Goddard also noted that there are other factors to account for such as soil quality or if the property has road frontage Chairman Stewart stated that he hears more complaints regarding increased values for open land versus houses He noted that he expects citizens to be more upset for the 2011 Revaluation if the values for land are higher than 2003 Mr Pearson stated the valuation of land is expected to increase from 2003 County Manager Rick Hester recalled that in 2003 , one of the main reasons citizens were upset with their increased values was because the 1995 valuation was not set where it should have been and there was a substantial increase in 2003 Ms Goddard agreed with Mr Hester and stated that from 1995 until 2003 , the valuation was so low that many people did not feel the need to be in the Present Use Program Ms Goddard asked the Board to direct any concerned citizens to the Tax Office for assistance Ms Goddard also commended the Tax Office staff and spoke on the amount of work that everyone has put forth during the revaluation process while also implementing new software She stated everyone has done an excellent job Page111 September 22 , 2010 – 9 00 am Continued Mr Jeffrey Lee , Chairman of the Board of Equalization and Review , stated that he does not believe the 2011 Revaluation will be as intense as 2003 Mr Lee added that there were tremendous increases from 1995 to 2003 which will not be the case for 2011 Commissioner Cookie Pope noted her concerns regarding horticulture values Ms Goddard stated that horticulture values should not be an issue because there are very few property owners in the County that are classified as horticulture Chairman Stewart asked if there were any others in the audience that wished to speak There being no further comments , the Chairman closed the public hearing Chairman Stewart reminded everyone that the Board would be considering the adoption of the schedule at the October 4 , 2010 10 00 am meeting Ms Goddard stated that following the Board’s adoption of the schedule , the required notice of adoption will be published for four consecutive weeks in The Smithfield Herald per Statute There being no further business , Commissioner W Ray Woodall moved the Board adjourn Commissioner Cookie Pope seconded the motion , which carried by unanimous vote The meeting adjourned at 9 35 am ____________________________ Wade M Stewart , Chairman Paula G Woodard , Clerk to the BoardPage