White County’s Property Assessor advising White County Commissioners to avoid setting up a proposed property tax relief program.
White County Assessor of Property Junior Jones cited the maximum number of acres allowed is five. Jones said breaking out only part of a property for relief can unintentionally increase the taxable value of the remaining land and reduce the overall benefit for property owners.
“So I’ve just changed the value of the five that’s left, because as you all know, five acres per acre is worth more per acre than 10 acres is per acre,” Jones said. “So I’ve really penalized myself. So I don’t know how much this relief is going to help me at all if I do this.”
Jones said in this instance, they would have to create two tax bills. Jones then explained that a tax freeze is typically most beneficial when an area is growing rapidly.
“Tax freeze is for an area of community that’s growing tremendously, and the values around that person’s home is growing tremendously, and they can’t afford to live there anymore because the sales in that area has dropped their home up,” Jones said. “So their tax is actually frozen at a certain amount, a set amount, for the rest of their life. Then, when they pass away, that home is sold at market, and that tax freeze program is eliminated. So tax freeze is something you really need to be careful when you go with tax freeze.”
Jones said 772 taxpayers qualified for the program at the start of the tax season, with $157,903 available through state funding, and preliminary numbers show 63 new taxpayers also qualified. However, some were disqualified.
“On the bottom left there, you can see it says 25-26, applicants voided 46,” Jones said. “So 46 taxpayers were disqualified from the tax relief program for various reasons, either death or income increases or something along that order.”
Jones outlined who qualifies for relief, noting that benefits vary by category. Elderly and disabled residents would receive $115, while disabled veterans could receive up to $617.
“Now there is an income limit and age minimum for the elderly and disabled, but not for disabled veterans,” Jones said.
Commissioners then discussed ways the county could supplement the state program, including matching state contributions, offering a flat dollar amount, or covering gaps caused by property appraisal ratios.
“You could do 100% match, whatever that, like $115 this year,” Jones said. “If there’s a ratio applied, that would be less. So you could do 100 percent match, you could do a percentage of the 100 percent match, or you could do a ratio difference match. If the ratio, like I said, was 40 percent, you can fill in that 40 percent gap to make that total $150. You could do it that way.”
Commissioner Derrick Hutchings said he believes a tax freeze was essentially ruled out in a previous meeting, while Jones noted such a freeze would be selective in its eligibility.
Commissioner Dakota White said he wants the county to provide as much assistance as possible through the tax relief program. The proposal to enhance the program will be sent to a committee for further discussion before being considered as part of the county’s upcoming budget process.