Lowndes County will have separate offices for tax assessor and collector as of 2024.
The board of supervisors on Monday voted unanimously for the split, which will create separate elected positions for assessor and collector on the 2023 county election ballot. Currently, Greg Andrews is serving his seventh term in both capacities.
Andrews recommended the split Monday based on the county’s growing property tax base. This year, he said, the total assessed value of taxable property in Lowndes County is about $990 million and collections should come in at about $82 million. Those numbers are roughly double what they were in 1990, when Henry Perkins was assessor/collector and a split was last discussed with the board.
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Andrews told the board. “… It’s gotten big, and it’s getting bigger.”
After the board’s approval, Andrews wasted no time declaring his political intentions moving forward.
“I’ll be running for tax assessor in 2023,” Andrews announced as he walked back to his seat.
The assessor is responsible for determining the taxable value of privately owned real and personal property — from homes to industrial and commercial land, building and equipment. The collector oversees payments of car tags, city/county building permits and all other property taxes, Andrew said.
“It’s a lot for one person to keep up with,” he told The Dispatch after the meeting, also crediting his “well-trained and well-versed” staff for helping him do it for so long.
By state law, a county qualifies to have a separate elected assessor and collector if its total assessed value is at least $65 million and it collects at least $20 million in property taxes annually. Andrews said 22 other counties meeting that criteria have split those offices.
“This could have been done in times past,” board of supervisors president Trip Hairston told The Dispatch after the meeting. “Greg made the ask, and I support that ask.”
COVID protocols
Supervisors on Monday also discussed, but took no action, on whether to reimplement mask wearing protocols for county employees or whether to grant paid leave to unvaccinated employees who contract or are exposed to COVID-19.
County Administrator Jay Fisher told the board he is tracking ever-changing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the Mississippi Department of Health, amid rising case numbers. He said he plans to have hard recommendations to present by the board’s next meeting Aug. 16.
Supervisors agreed to offer an extra 80 hours of paid sick leave to employees who test positive for or are exposed to COVID for 2021. However, after Fisher posed the question of whether unvaccinated employees should continue receiving that benefit, some supervisors disagreed on the answer.
“I would have a hard time wanting to pay a county worker who didn’t get the vaccine,” District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said. “… It makes it hard for me to want to pay somebody when they have an option.”
Jeff Smith, of District 4, said he prefers all county employees get vaccinated, but he believes the leave policy should apply to all employees. If an unvaccinated employee has COVID, “You want them home. You don’t want them at work,” he said.
“I’d rather have that person at home, paid,” Smith said.
Hairston, noting he is fully vaccinated, said he tells people reluctant to receive the vaccine to consult their physician.
“See if it’s right for you,” Hairston said. “It was certainly right for me and my family.”
Juvenile detention space
Supervisors entered an interlocal agreement that would guarantee the city of Starkville two beds in the Lowndes County Juvenile Detention Center for $300 per month, regardless of whether the beds were used, as well as $200 per month for each additional bed used. Starkville’s board of aldermen must agree to the terms, then the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office must issue final approval.
In other business, supervisors:
■ Authorized Fisher to request proposals from outside consultants who would assist the county in properly spending its American Recovery Program funds; and
■ Partnered with the YMCA and The Hive community garden to allow county property near the courthouse to be a temporary site for up to eight raised garden beds.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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