NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County officials are under pressure in a short period to get property tax rolls updated to ensure taxpayers are paying the right amount next year.
County supervisors were told Monday that the tax assessor’s office is behind in reviewing private properties to update and confirm their worth for taxable purposes.
“You’ve got a lot of work to do to get the values right,” said Wayne Herring, a professional tax appraiser hired by the Board of Supervisors to help.
Adams County Tax Assessor Larry Hughes is new on the job having just taken office in January. He replaced Reynolds Atkins, who did not seek re-election last year. Staff work in recent months was left undone in updating tax records in Atkins’ office between last summer’s election and now, said Peter Dale, who now manages the county’s mapping of land parcels to be taxed. He noted how crucial the next six months are for county appraisers to update land values on time for assessments to be made for 2020 property taxes due for payment next year.
The state does require periodic reassessments of private properties to determine the updated values of their land and structures to be taxed based on their worth. Assessments are due at the end of July for the Board of Supervisors to finalize. If past due, Adams County could be penalized by the state by not being reimbursed for homestead-exemption tax breaks it provides to propertyowners, Herring said.
Adams County has had about 17,000 privately owned parcels of land the tax assessor must value for tax purposes, according to stats provided to county supervisors in the past.
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A hazardous private dam with a county-owned road on it should be torn down and replaced by a bridge, according to recommendations presented Monday to the Adams County Board of Supervisors.
County engineer Jim Marlow said state dam-safety regulators suggest the erosion-prone, deficient Robins Lake dam should be taken out rather than rebuilt and enlarged to handle the lake when it rises after heavy rains. A bridge could replace the road that traverses the earthen dam.
However, this would eradicate the small private Robins Lake surrounded by a handful of residences south of Natchez.
If nothing is done to address the vulnerable lake-impoundment structure, the state Department of Environmental Quality’s dam-safety office could mandate the road-topped dam be closed, Marlow said.
Adams County supervisors discussed the dilemma facing them as they grapple on what’s the most feasible and safest option for lakeside residents and others in the area who rely on the public road traversing the small levee-dam. It’s located west of U.S. 61 and Lower Woodville Road about 10 miles south of Natchez between the Beau Pre and Sibley areas.
Robins Lake Dam Road gets washed out often after heavy rains — the most recent being last month’s downpours that damaged the earth levee along the lake. While the road is maintained by the county, the dam underneath is privately owned.
The county can’t pay for rebuilding the levee-dam to handle the lake’s high levels, and it would be nearby residents’ responsibility if they want to maintain the lake as currently impounded.
The Adams County board could decide to abandon the road, freeing it of the responsibility of maintaining it. However, residents nearby losing a key transportation link could sue the county, said board attorney Scott Slover.