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Resident tells Surry County commissioners he won’t pay inflated tax bill, asks board to reinstate policy honoring dealer bill of sale
Summary
At the April 6 Surry County Board of Commissioners meeting, resident Abish Beach urged the board to reinstate a county practice of using dealer bills of sale to set taxable vehicle value after he said the tax office issued a reassessment that doubled his vehicle’s assessed value.
Abish Beach, of Elkin, told the Surry County Board of Commissioners on April 6 that the county had previously honored dealer bills of sale when determining a vehicle’s taxable value and that he wanted that practice reinstated after a recent reassessment.
Beach said he bought a used Mercedes for $8,500 but received a tax bill valuing the car at roughly $16,000. “I’m not paying taxes on that amount for this vehicle,” he told the board, and said he would leave his bill of sale with the county attorney and pay taxes if the department recalculated the value based on his sales paperwork.
He recounted a similar matter from 25 years ago that he said was handled by the board at that time, pressing the commissioners to restore the language in the county’s standard operating procedures or bylaws that would direct the tax department to accept a dealer’s bill of sale as evidence of actual cash value.
Board members did not make a policy decision on the spot. Beach said he had spent more than an hour at the tax office without resolution and described staff responses as unhelpful; he asked the board to have the tax office issue a corrected bill if the policy remains in force.
The meeting record shows the board took no formal vote on Beach’s request during the public-comment period. The transcript indicates he left a copy of the bill of sale with the county attorney for review.
Background: The public-comment period is the forum for residents to raise concerns for the board’s consideration; the board may direct staff or the county attorney to follow up but is not required to take immediate action. The tax department’s current practices on accepting dealer bills of sale were discussed in Beach’s remarks but not changed during the meeting.
Next steps: The transcript records that the county attorney received Beach’s paperwork; the article does not assert any subsequent policy change. The board may address his request through a future agenda item or staff follow-up.
