Columbus, Georgia

MINUTES #

16-02



The Columbus, Georgia, Board of Tax Assessors met Wednesday, April 24, 2002, at

2:00PM with Chairman Beatrice Breaux, Assessors Lawton Grantham, Richard

Stallings and Ann Grantham present. Also present was Chief Appraiser Martin J.

Land



Assessor Lawton Grantham made a motion to approve Minutes # 15-02; Assessor Ann

Grantham second it, motion carried unanimously.



The following VA letter of application for VA exemption was reviewed and

approved:



149 001 025 Owens Approved.



Met with Mr. Billings regarding his late appeal for parcel ID 101 014 001. Mr.

Billings wanted to know how much time he had because he wanted to talk about

three properties. He said the property had been in his family since 1860 and

there had been 14 people involved in the ownership of the property. He said he

is going to be forced to sell the property in order to pay the property taxes.

He also said the value of his property has not kept up with other areas in

Columbus. He said parcel ID 101 014 107 should be compared to Mr. Foley?s

property parcel ID 101 010 007, which was appraised at $.89 a square foot. He

said the value for parcel ID 101 001 014 should be reduced because he had to

build a detention pond and allow for a 50 ft buffer around the entire property

which left only 8 acres of good land. The Board pointed out to Mr. Billings

that the property he sold in this area sold for more than what we have it

appraised for. The Board advised Mr. Billings he did not have a valid appeal

since he did not file a written appeal within 30 days from the date of the

Official Tax Notice. The Board took no action since a valid appeal was not

filed.



Met with Ms. Whitcomb representing the Georgia Council for the Hearing

Impaired requesting non-taxability for their personal property. Ms. Whitcomb

told the Board the main office of the Georgia Council for the Hearing Impaired

is located in Decatur, Ga and they have satellite offices in Columbus, Rome and

Augusta. She said the Columbus satellite office was located at 4800 Armour Rd,

Bldg C, which they moved into in July 1999. She said they provide services to

the hearing impaired by developing job seeking skills, providing training on

the job and they also have Summer camps for teens and youths. She told the

Board they are a 501( c )3 federal exempt organization and are a purely public

charity organization, they do not charge fees for their services. She said they

receive their funding through State grants and contributions. She said the only

personal property they owned in Muscogee County is a computer, a printer, a

desk and some chairs. The Board requested a field check.





Page 2

Min16-02



Mrs. McCullars representing the Tax Commissioner?s Office appeared before the

Board regarding the removal of homestead exemption for parcel ID 059 019 021.

Mrs. McCullars said mail was returned with the notification ?unknown address?

when they mailed the green sheet in December. She told the Board in April 2002

they called the telephone number they had on record and the telephone number

had been changed. She said they called a second telephone number and someone

else had been assigned this telephone number for nine months, so they removed

the homestead exemption for 2002 and sent a letter of notification that the

homestead exemption had been removed. She said Mr. Webber called and said he

moved out in August 2001 for two months and that a friend lived in the house.

She said he told them he moved back in October, but had to move out to repair

the house.



Met with Mr. Webber and Ms. Knight regarding the removal of homestead exemption

for property located at 2326 Fields Ave for the year 2002. Mr. Webber said

they moved out of the house in July 2001 to visit relatives in Florida. He

said friends stayed in the house. The Board asked Mr. Webber if the friends

were paying rent, but he said they were not. Mr. Webber said when they returned

the friends refused to move out of the house and he had to get a dispossessory

warrant and it took a couple of months to get them out of the house. He said

the house was torn up and he has been in the process of repairing the house

since last year. Mr. Webber said they were living with relatives while they are

repairing the house. Mr. Webber said they had the electricity turned on in

their name in December 2001 and furnished the Board with a computer print-out

from Georgia Power indicating the account was opened December 7, 2001 for

property located at 2326 Fields Drive. The Board asked him also to furnish them

with a copy of the dispossessory warrant he filed to evict his friends and any

other information that would prove this was his permanent residence. The Board

delayed decision until the information is received.



Met with Residential Division Chief Bob O?Brien, reviewed and approved the

following:



2002 Map Splits: 3

New Construction: 240



Met with Commercial Division Chief Linda King, reviewed and approved the

following:



Permits: 21

Land Reval: 1

Condo Reval: 3

Transf/Land Rev: 2



Commercial Div Chief Linda King reported the results of a field review for

parcel ID 081 001 020 & 020H which revealed that the Royal Rangers had been

using it for paintball battles. Assessor Lawton Grantham made the motion to

approve tax exempt status for the year 2002 and Assessor Richard Stallings

second it, motion was carried unanimously.









Page 3

Min16-02



Met with Personal Property Division Chief Oliver Juhan, reviewed and approved

the following:



Assessment Corrections: 3(-)

Freeport Exemptions: 1(Approved)











Adjourned 4:55PM.







MARTIN J. LAND

Secretary





APPROVED:____________________________________



__________ ____________ ___________ ____________

B H Breaux L E Grantham R L Stallings A C Grantham

Chairman Assessor Assessor Assessor