The Jones County Board of Commissioners voted to approve the county's property tax digest for submission to the tax commissioner, and residents used the meeting's public-comment period to press the board to accept late appeals after saying assessment notices arrived late or not at all.

Acting Chief Appraiser Mister Davis told the board the appraisal office had worked through appeals and that the totals were ready to be released. "I recommended the board approved tonight, go ahead and and release those figures for, to the tax commissioner who can then add with all the other values...to assemble and become the entire digest," Davis said. The board moved, seconded and voted to submit the digest as presented.

Why it matters: approving the digest starts the formal process that produces property valuations used to calculate local tax bills. Several residents said they could not file timely appeals because they either received notices late or did not receive them at all and said that the county's online systems and the postal service complicated timely filing.

River North resident Tripp Lawson told the board he received one notice the day before the appeal deadline and "didn't get to do the appeal in time because it's on the fourteenth. Now I could have printed it out...but there's no place to even upload it on a website in Jones County." Lawson added, "I do have a problem with the value going up a $179,000, and I wanna appeal my taxes on that." Other residents, including Shelley Otero-Schroeder and Thomas Thompson, reported similar late or missing notices and asked the board to accept late appeals on equitable grounds.

Board and staff response: Davis and other staff repeatedly told the room that state law sets firm filing deadlines for appeals. "The law is pretty clear that you have to file an appeal in person in writing within that 45 day appeal period," Davis said, and he added that an email filing is valid only if the board has previously adopted a policy allowing email appeals. Staff and the board said Jones County had not adopted such a policy, and therefore email appeals submitted after hours on the deadline could not be treated as timely under current law.

Residents raised related concerns about mail theft and postal delays, and one speaker, Mike Bodnerchuk, described what he said were ongoing identity-theft and mail-interception problems that prevented him from getting official notices. Board members said they would hear all public comments and consider the situation but emphasized they were constrained by the legal filing requirements staff had described.

The meeting record: After the discussion the board voted to submit the digest. Commissioners and staff noted that accounts currently under appeal were marked in the system and that outcomes from pending appeals could still change the digest later if appeals are resolved in a taxpayer's favor. The board recessed for a short break to allow staff to consult and review the public comments and legal constraints before returning to business.