Despite the longest Millage Public Hearing ever, people are still very confused by why, how, and how much taxes are going up.

This may be partly because most Lowndes County officials (elected, appointed, or employee) are not willing to say in public how we got here. Lowndes County Chief Appraiser Lisa Bryant did make a long presentation at the Historic Courthouse about that, but many people did not attend. Plus there are a few further wrinkles.

Collage @ LCC 15 October 2024

For many years, the Tax Appraisers were not keeping up with valuations as they changed due to increased sale prices of comparable properties.

When the appointed Tax Assessors first came in, many of their staff (the Appraisers) left, Continue reading →