The Carroll County Board of Supervisors are reapplying for the 2019 HOME Project that will give some residents in the county much needed work on their homes for free, if the county is awarded the grant.
The board authorized Chris Pope with North Central Planning and Development District to submit a grant for the 2019 HOME Project. Pope said the county didn’t get selected for the grant last year, but he’s gone back over it to see why Carroll County was denied and is confident they will be approved this year.
The project identifies homeowners who are eligible for repairs, renovations, and reconstructions to their home at no cost to the owner. Pope said they held a public hearing Thursday, Aug. 2 and a few people came and asked questions.
Pope said the grant is in two phases, once Carroll County gets awarded the grant, then there will be another public hearing to identify those in Carroll County who could benefit from the program.
“Now, it’s out of our hands. Everything that can be down has been done,” Pope said.
The board then heard from William and Linda Teague, Tax Assessor Wilton Neal told the board he discovered Teague was at the age where he qualified for an Over 65 Homestead Exemption. However, he wasn’t getting it.
Neal said he spoke with Teague and told him what he discovered. Neal said Teague told him that when he was 64, he asked inquired about the Over 65 homestead exemption and he was told he was receiving the standard homestead exemption.
When he went before the board Monday, Teague said when he asked about the Over 65 homestead exemption to the previous tax assessor, they didn’t know what he was talking about.
Teague said he went back to the tax assessor’s office to get a tag in September 2011 and was told again he was receiving the homestead exemption.
He said that he’s never saw anything about the Over 65 Homestead Exemption in the paper and the only reason he knew to ask was that he saw it in the AARP. Neal told Teague that it’s published in the paper every year.
Board attorney Kevin Horan said he doesn’t feel that there was any wrongdoing and if the board decided to allow Teague to go back and refund him for not having the Over 65 homestead exemption, they were “opening a can of worms.”
“You’ll have everyone coming in here saying they didn’t get it,” Horan said.
At their last meeting, the board approved to amend the 2018 Homestead Exemption and the 2019 Homestead Exemption at Neal’s request.
“I mean, it’s one of those situations where you feel bad, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” Corley said.
The board also:
*Heard from Veronica McKenzie and Adam Jenkins about problems they're having with ditches at their rental properties flooding in North Carrollton.
*Heard from Jackie McKinney about her driveway washing out, modernizing and updating how Carroll County inputs information and the weather.
