November 17, 2003 - 6:00 AM - County Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes (Special)

10 521 MEETING OF THE JOHNSTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS November 17 , 2003 The Johnston County Board of Commissioners met in special session on Monday , November 17 , 2003 , at 6 00 am in the Emergency Operations Center , Law Enforcement Center , Johnston County Courthouse , Smithfield , NC with the following members present Present James H Langdon , Jr , Chairman , Cookie Pope , Vice - Chairman , Thomas M Moore , Allen L Mims , Jr , Wade M Stewart , W Ray Woodall , and Jeffrey P Carver Absent None Also Present Rick J Hester , County Manager , Joyce H Ennis , Clerk to the Board , Mark Payne , County Attorney , John R Massey , Finance Officer , Pat Goddard , Tax Administrator , County Tax and Human Resources Staff and members of the Board of Equalization and Review The Chairman called the meeting to order and noted the purpose of the meeting is for the Board of Commissioners to discuss with the Board of Equalization and Review E & R the 2003 property revaluation process and future revaluations for the County 1 Plaques of Appreciation The Commissioners presented plaques of appreciation to each of the seven who served on the Board of E & R and thanked them for a job well done 2 Feedback from Board of E & R Members of the Board of E & R reviewed with the Commissioners the things that went well with the recent revaluation process , and things they feel could have been done differently to make the process run smoother Following are some of the comments that were made Things that worked well lt; Excellent preparation by tax staff prior to hearings lt; Consensus among Board of E & R in most cases lt; Technology provided by staff extremely helpful Things that would make revaluation process smoother lt; Better communication in early appeals lt; Better communication with outside appraisal company lt; More training and experience for Board of E & R - need to be a greater part of the early process lt; Changes in State law concerning assessments of mobile homes , vacant commercial properties ; farm use value , division of land to heirs In addition to the above mentioned items , it was also suggested the Tax Department establish an alternate address file to assure that all parties that might have an interest in a property receive all information concerning valuation and taxation on a property 3 Future Revaluations The Board discussed how frequently the County should conduct future revaluations , and whether they should be done in - house or by contract It was noted that growth is expected to continue at an even greater rate of increase over the next eight years , created at least to some extent by the Hwy 64 by - pass that is close to completion and located just miles from the northern portion of the County , the 70 by - pass around Clayton , and the Raleigh outer loop that will come close to the Johnston County line Following are some of the advantages and disadvantages that were discussed for both of these issues A Frequency of Future Revaluations Advantages of conducting a revaluation prior to 2011 lt; Less “ sticker shock ” to the citizens lt; Greater equity in taxation lt; Easier to do strategic planning lt; More current property valuesPage522 November 17 , 2003 Continued Advantages to waiting a full eight years for next revaluation 2011 lt; More time to prepare - Tax Department needs to install new software lt; Constant values for longer period of time lt; Less expensive - Cost of more frequent revaluations would offset increase in revenue B In House Revaluations vs Outside Appraisal Contract In discussion , it was noted the cost of an in - house mass appraisal and contracting with an outside appraisal company would probably be about the same Commissioner Wade M Stewart stated , in his opinion , the people of Johnston County would rather work with local County employees rather than people from outside He expressed his wish to change the process to in - house Don Wells , member of the Board of Equalization and Review , disagreed and stated , in his opinion , it is better to have people from outside of the County since they can be more independent and objective He noted it would be difficult for county employees as they know the people in the communities and will have to continue to work with these people Commissioner Stewart agreed that Mr Wells ’ observations are true Chairman Langdon agreed with Mr Wells and noted the outside firm that did the appraisal had the credentials needed to do the job Ms Goddard agreed and stated , in her opinion , that CLT , the outside contractors who did the 2003 revaluation , did a good job She noted she would be willing to work with them again In response to a question from Commissioner Stewart , she stated that about 30 counties do in - house revaluations , the rest contract with one of the several companies that are approved by the State to do mass appraisals in North Carolina She noted that whatever the Board decides to do , there will need to be at least a 24 month lead time in order to get the job done Ms Goddard suggested the Board might want to look at the numbers that the public service companies come up with when they compare the real value and assessed value on real property to the value they are assessed on personal property in the first , fourth and seventh years following a revaluation Those figures are , in her opinion , a good yardstick for deciding when the County needs another revaluation There being no further business , Commissioner Cookie Pope moved the Board adjourn Commissioner Allen L Mims , Jr seconded the motion , which carried by unanimous vote __________________________________________ James H Langdon , Jr , Chairman _____________________________ Joyce H Ennis , Clerk to the BoardPage