The Carroll County Board of Supervisors was greeted with good news at Monday’s board meeting. The assessed value of the county has risen by nearly $2 million.
Wilton Neal, the Carroll County Tax Assessor/Collector, attended the meeting to get the changes in assessments approved. He said that the increase was a good sign.
“It’s an indication that people are still coming to Carroll County,” he said. “There’s still growth and that’s a good thing.”
According to Neal, the assessed value of a county is a culmination of all of the other values in the county. This value combines the various appraised values of county properties, personal properties, public utilities, mobile homes and motor vehicles.
This past fiscal year, land values in Carroll County saw an about $1 million increase. In addition to the increase in land values, Carroll County also owns land used by GCAST to dismantle planes and sell the parts. When the parts are sold within Mississippi, Carroll County can tax the revenue. The company sold roughly $2 million worth of parts within Mississippi this year, all of which can be taxed.
The full $1.8 million increase in assessed value does not go directly into the county’s budget, however. An increase in property value means that the county will receive more in taxes on the properties. With the millage rate, this equals about $190,000.
Come January, the county will receive the tax payments, which go toward the economic development of the county.
“You utilize the increase to help serve the people,” Neal said.
He also commended the board on a job well done for having maintained a steady millage rate throughout the years. A low millage rate has several benefits, including cheaper car tags, he said.
In continued good news for the board, strides have been made to begin the construction of a new walking trail. The board had been trying to get a grant to fund a recreational trail for about a year, said Beat 1 Supervisor Jim Neill.
The recreation trail grant will match the county eighty-twenty to pay for a blacktop track. As with previous grants, the board will have to put up all of the money at once and be reimbursed for the expenditures after the work is completed.
The county expects to pay about $123,000 upfront and be reimbursed for nearly $100,000 of the money. The board agreed that such a deal was hard to beat. Neill made a motion to set aside the money immediately. Construction is expected to start within 90 days.
