Jefferson County delays final levy rates after five taxing districts fail to submit L‑2 forms

Jefferson County commissioners recessed action on this year’s property tax levies after staff reported five taxing districts had not submitted their required L‑2 levy forms and staff found discrepancies in taxable-value calculations.

The board heard that L‑2 forms were missing for West Jefferson Fire, Roberts Fire, Flood District No. 5, Roberts Mosquito Abatement and Midway Abatement. County staff told the commissioners they had reached some districts but not others and were checking electronic downloads, paper files and local newspapers for legal-publication proof.

Why it matters: counties must rely on accurate L‑2 forms and certified valuation figures to calculate levy rates that fund local services. Commissioners said the county could face a legal problem if a district did not publish a budget or file an L‑2: an unnamed county staff member told the board, “Legally, if they did not submit, they cannot tax.”

State Tax Commission staff — whom county staff planned to call during the meeting — told commissioners the commission would try to accommodate late filings but warned that statutory deadlines and the commission’s review calendar make late submissions increasingly difficult to accept as the fiscal cycle progresses. Commissioners were advised that some flexibility exists but that the county’s choices and any missing publication proof could determine whether a district may lawfully receive property tax revenue.

Commissioners also confronted numeric mismatches while trying to reconcile the county’s taxable value. Participants discussed state September-certified figures and additional components that affect levy capacity, including operating property, 90% of new-construction value and expiring urban renewal increments. Staff cited a September taxable-market figure of 4,083,155,754 and discussed additions (operating-property figures and new construction of roughly 79,183,940, and a 90% urban‑renewal adjustment to 58,241,847) that produced draft totals discussed in the meeting (figures mentioned in the discussion included totals near $4,260,219,009.54). Commissioners said they could not finalize levy rates until staff reconciled those values with the state-certified data and clarified which districts had complied with publication and filing rules.

Commissioners also noted an operational complication: the county clerk’s absence for health reasons and some missing local files had complicated verification. Staff said they would check other county clerks for copies of joint-district filings, scour newspaper publication archives, and contact district officials directly. Named local contacts cited in the meeting included Danny Ferguson and Steven Hoadley (for mosquito/abatement districts), and staff referenced that some districts had substantial reserve balances and in at least one case had indicated they might not levy this year.

Next steps: The board recessed to allow staff to (1) call the State Tax Commission for guidance, (2) search for publication proof in the local newspaper and library records and (3) reconcile county worksheets with state-certified September values. No levy rates or other formal actions on property taxes were adopted at the meeting.

The county is scheduled to reconvene follow-up work on the L‑2s; commissioners said they would return when staff had the missing documentation and corrected value calculations.