Harrison County supervisors deny AT&T objection, continue talks with C Spire over 2025 property-tax assessments

The Harrison County Board of Supervisors voted to deny AT&T Mobility’s 2025 business personal-property assessment objection after AT&T representatives said county-hired consultants would not be allowed to inspect equipment on company sites.

The matter arose after AT&T filed a formal objection to the county’s proposed 2025 assessments for its taxable cell-site equipment and claimed that most of the company’s deployed equipment qualifies for a broadband-ad valorem exemption. AT&T’s lead tax manager, William Gengrey, told the board that AT&T had filed the required renditions and a certified sworn description to pursue the broadband exemption enacted in House Bill 1644 and signed March 28, 2025. Gengrey said AT&T’s records report original acquisition cost and original year new as required by Mississippi law and that the county’s consultant used a different, “highly speculative” method to estimate value.

Supervisor discussion focused on whether the county and its consultant should be allowed to verify what is on site. County staff and supervisors said the assessor’s office and its agents have a statutory right to inspect property to determine true value; board members said AT&T’s refusal to let the county’s contracted consultants access equipment…