Jones County commissioners approve awarding contract for $687,009 countywide property revaluation, request budget amendment

The Jones County Board of Commissioners on May 20 approved awarding a $687,009 contract to Technical Appraisal Services of Georgia to perform a countywide property revaluation, contingent on the board approving a budget amendment to fund the work.

Miss Lee, a staff member in the county tax office, told commissioners the office had made a series of corrections and table adjustments that improved sales-ratio measures but still left the county out of uniformity. "My question was, if the numbers are this good, do we need a countywide reevaluation at this point? And we do, and there's a few reasons why," she said, citing a Department of Revenue performance review and a conditional approval order related to the 2023 digest.

The nut graf: county staff and commissioners said the reevaluation is needed to meet state requirements and to correct lingering uniformity problems that could lead to fines or state oversight. County staff reported the changes made by assessors altered the digest by tens of millions of dollars and that failure to act could continue to cost the county in uncollected public utility revenue.

Details: staff said the appraisal team increased the county's square-foot price assumptions during recent adjustments and reversed improper overrides and grade changes found in whole neighborhoods. That work, the presentation said, reduced a depreciation adjustment that had cut the digest by about $31,000,000 and, after other corrections, increased the digest by roughly $85,000,000.

Only one company submitted a bid after the county's March 17 solicitation. Technical Appraisal Services of Georgia proposed completing the reevaluation with a June 1 target the following year; the work is priced by parcel and the total bid is $687,009, which county staff said is billed monthly. Staff also noted an earlier, nonidentical quote for a different scope and turnaround of about $797,000.

Miss Lee said the reevaluation is also required by a Georgia Department of Revenue order and by state performance findings that remain unaddressed; she said the county must take "all action necessarily to correct efficiency specified in our findings." Commissioners were told the most recent countywide reevaluation took place in February 2007; the county last met the state three-year revaluation cycle in 2016.

Commission action and next steps: the board made and approved a motion to award the contract contingent on the board providing funding; commissioners directed staff to prepare a budget amendment for the July meeting to fund the contract. The board said it will hold a separate meeting the next day to approve assessment notices.

Public comment and risk: a county staff member noted the state had estimated public utility revenue loss at about $321,000 in its 2023 findings. Commissioners emphasized public education ahead of assessment notices so residents understand that assessed value changes do not automatically produce higher taxes if millage is adjusted.

Ending: county staff will return with a formal budget amendment request. The company that bid, Technical Appraisal Services of Georgia of Macon, was reported to be performing work for other counties and to propose a one-year turnaround under the county's expedited timeline.