NATCHEZ, Miss. – Mayor Dan Gibson wants Natchez and Adams County officials to join together to reappraise properties that he said have been overvalued for taxes.
“It’s very apparent that these appraisals have been too much,” said Gibson, who maintained properties could have been valued without sufficient information or inspection by county-hired appraisers.
Meeting Tuesday with the mayor, the Natchez Board of Aldermen did vote to request Adams County officials provide details about the process and formula used in determining the market value of properties that are taxed.
This comes as Natchez-Adams County property owners have been hit with larger-than-usual tax bills that Gibson said could be based on erroneous appraisals.
He encouraged those who believe they’ve been overtaxed to get their properties revalued in an attempt to persuade Adams County officials to reduce the tax bills.
“If you feel like you’ve been improperly treated, you might want to consider looking at an appraisal – getting one done – and presenting that to the tax assessor,” Gibson said.
He noted he successfully got his property taxes reduced in the past on a parcel he owns after showing the county assessor the value is less than what the county appraiser determined.
Adams County officials run the property tax operations for both the city and county, but “if this continues to be such an outrageous inflation of values, (Natchez aldermen could) consider asking the county to go in with us on a reappraisal of (all) properties,” Gibson said.
In the meantime, the city board wants details from county officials on how the property values were done by the county-hired appraisal company headed by Wayne Herring of Tylertown.
Gibson said appraisals could’ve been done simply by “drive-by” inspections of properties, and “sometimes they don’t use recent sales data in the real estate market.”
“It’s a deterrent in living here when the taxes are so high,” Gibson said. “I am very empathetic to the situation.”
The tax bills that landholders received last month caused sticker shock for many in Natchez-Adams County. Amounts owed increased by 30 percent from last year’s bills, according to some accounts reported by taxpayers. The money is the combined total of taxes owed to Natchez, Adams County and the Natchez-Adams School District.
A state-mandated reassessment process has resulted in property values rising due to inflation and other contributing factors, according to what’s been reported to the Adams County Board of Supervisors.
The deadline to pay property taxes normally due Feb. 1 was extended to March 3 because of last month’s ice storm.
However, any challenge can still be pursued thereafter to get individual tax bills reduced, according to Adams County board attorney Scott Slover.
Property owners trying to get their taxes lowered can appeal to county Tax Assessor Larry Hughes. If he agrees a particular parcel was overvalued, he can recommend the Board of Supervisors reduce the taxes owed. The tax assessor’s office telephone number at the Adams County Courthouse is 601 442-6732.
To view Adams County property tax information that includes how much is owed for each parcel, go to:
www.deltacomputersystems.com/ms/ms01/plinkquerym.html
Property values are calculated based on several factors, including how the property is used, its construction and its current real-estate market worth. The Mississippi Department of Revenue requires counties to reassess property values every four years to reflect changes in the market and ensure tax equity.
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