Computer issues in determining accurate land use values have led the Board of Supervisors to grant an extension for completion of the Webster County tax roll.
Tax Assessor/Collector Barbara Gore, property appraiser Mike Sanders of Sanders & Associates and GIS Manager Toby Sanford of the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District first met with the board about the matter June 29.
Sanders said the county is having to reclassify its land use values for the first time since the fall of 2014. Additionally, he said, the state is requiring the county to submit them in digital form for the first time.
Sanford and his staff, after working on the digital mapping using new soil classifications, turned its information over to Data Systems Management on June 25, Sanders said. After Data Systems ran calculations and a test, some of the values received by the GTPDD were determined to be inaccurate, according to Sanders and Gore, therefore making the tax roll incorrect.
"It's creating some discrepancies," said Gore, who described the problem as a computer glitch.
Sanders said a 30-day extension was needed to prepare the tax roll to ensure the values are accurate, and stated he would be working with Data Systems and Sanford to remedy the problem.
“Our goal is to turn the tax roll over by the first of August — no later than then,” Sanders told the board. He said Gore would return the following Monday, July 2, — when the tax roll was due to be submitted — to formally request the extension, which she did.
After further discussion with her that day, supervisors voted to grant Gore a 30-day extension to submit to the board the county’s tax roll for tax year 2018. This extends the due date from the first Monday of July to the first Monday of August. The motion concludes, “This extension is because of digital mapping not being immediately available or completed.”
July 2
Also on July 2, the board voted to:
• allow Circuit Clerk Sherry Henderson to attend an associational convention July 25-27 in Biloxi.
• accept the June grand jury report as submitted and respond that the Board of Supervisors will address the maintenance problems listed as funds become available.
• advertise for sale (by posting) a multidistrict backhoe.
The board handled these additional matters at recessed meetings in June:
June 5
On June 5, minutes show the board:
• accepted various bids for semiannual goods and services
• voted to hire Gwen Shurden as a part-time jailer and Titus Curtis as a part-time deputy, with both hires effective that day.
• voted to pay $50 to Circle J Lawn Care, per cutting, to mow the grounds of the E-911 building in Mathiston.
June 18
On June 18, minutes show the board:
• voted to allow Alexia Cole, Carson Gilliland and Diedre Lott, dispatchers for E-911, to attend the Basic Communication Course to become state-certified at the E-911 Center in Mathiston on July 28-Aug. 1. The cost of $359 each is fully reimbursable by the state.
• voted to accept the lone bid of Netcomm Wiring of Eupora for $40,400 courthouse door access and a closed-circuit television system (security package). The bid includes 25 access cards.
• voted to hire Jade Grantham as a summer worker for District 4, effective that day.
• accepted the Mississippi Department of Revenue’s findings for the disallowance of homestead exemption on ad valorem taxes for the reasons that the exemption was denied because the taxpayer has not complied with the income tax laws of the state.
• passed the final resolution granting an exemption from ad valorem taxes to Plymouth Tube Inc. in the amount of $1.13 million. MDR previously approved the exemption.
June 29
On June 29, Planner George Crawford of the GTPDD asked the board to be thinking about projects that could be eligible for a Small Municipalities and Limited Population Counties grant. The application deadline is Aug. 31. The grants are a maximum of $150,000 and require a 20 percent match that cannot be in-kind.
Crawford and County Engineer Karl Grubb addressed the board about BUILD transportation grants that are available through the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The new Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development transportation grant program supplants the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a "significant local or regional impact.” At least 30 percent of funds must be awarded to projects in rural communities, where the federal share of costs can be as much as 100 percent. Grubb recommended applying for three bridge replacements and possibly other “shovel-ready” projects.
Additionally on June 29, the board approved motions to:
• pay $3,600 to Mississippi Delta Community College for the participation of Tanner Pritchard in a Law Enforcement Training Academy Basic class so he can be certified as a deputy for Webster County. The amount will be reimbursed by the state.
• pay the annual dues of Sheriff Tim Mitchell in the Mississippi Sheriffs’ Association for 2018 in the amount of $1,000. The board also voted to amend the sheriff’s budget in order to do so.
• accept the lone bid of John Mitchell totaling $6,200 for three pieces of equipment from districts 4 and 5 and remove them from county inventory: a lowboy trailer, 1980 GMC 7000 truck and New Holland backhoe.
