After 44 years of service, Wilton Neal has decided to retire as Carroll County Tax Assessor/Collector.
He made the announcement during a recent Carroll County Board of Supervisors meeting in the Carrollton Courthouse.
“This is my last red rose. It’s my last one,” said Neal. “I started before they had computers. We did everything by hand. I can appreciate everything.”
Aspects that accompany the office have changed through the years.
“Everything is done on the computer now,” Neal said. “We used to type out our land rolls. Technology has just been a good thing for us.”
In an earlier interview, he said when he started in appraisal in 1994, office personnel needed maps. However, there was not enough space in their office inside the Carrollton Courthouse.
“That’s when this property came available,” said Neal of his current office.
He said he was 26 years old when he took office.
“We’ve had a lot of changes through the years. I had a good staff. Back then, they taught me a lot,” said Neal. “Kay Sanders, she was the bookkeeper, and she taught me probably everything I knew about the office. I asked a million questions, I’m sure.”
Nowadays, he emphasizes the importance of a good staff, and he admits he appreciates his highly capable staff.
“Some have been with me a long time; some, a short time,” said Neal. “Everybody’s working together and doing a good job. It makes my job much easier. You’re better if everybody’s working together.”
Neal said he has worked in the position for more than four decades mainly because he loves to serve his community as a Tax Assessor/Collector.
“You have so many opportunities to help people. We have knowledge we share with people that’s helpful to them – concerning homestead exemptions, the different laws that apply. We have rules and regulations to go by, but in those regulations, we can be helpful to people along the way,” said Neal. “Being in a public office like this is service.”
However, after his 36th year, Neal decided to retire.
“Pam Mann, who had been with me 25 years, she ran. She thought I was going to be someone who traveled and did a lot of things, but because of my involvement in music, I really haven’t gone many places and really don’t desire to.”
After one term, however, her husband wanted her to retire, and Mann did not want to leave office without knowing a highly capable person was taking her place, according to Neal. She approached each of her coworkers, who – for one reason or another – were not able to step into the position.
“My bookkeeper now, Tammy Inmon, she had a high school student. She just couldn’t run with a high school senior,” said Neal. “So, Pam talked to me, and she said, ‘My decision to retire sure would be a lot easier if you would run again.”
Neal talked to God and his wife about running for office again.
“She said, ‘Wilt, you already know what to do.’ I’d been doing it for 36 years. So, I decided to run. That was two terms ago.”
During his last term, he asked his bookkeeper, Tammy Inmon, to run for Tax Assessor/Collector.
“She said it would be a lot easier to run if [I] had 25 years. See, you have full retirement. If you get it, fine. If not, you can retire,” said Neal. “She wanted me to run one more time. That’s why I’m here now.”
While he has worked to help people across the county, Neal admits serving in the position has proven beneficial to him.
“Physically, it’s good for me having to get up and come to work every day. It’s challenging to your mind,” said Neal. “The thing, I guess, I enjoy the most about my work is helping people.”
He does not limit his service to office work, Neal serves in capacities throughout the community. He is a member of the Carroll County Development Association, Forestry Association, Holmes Community College Development Foundation, Holmes Community College Endowment Board, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes Delta Region Board.
“I stay pretty busy doing all that. If there were more service organizations here, I would probably be in them,” said Neal. “I’m a member [of North Carrollton Baptist], but I lead music at Mt. Olive.”
Neal is a native to Carroll County but moved to Leland as a child when his father accepted a position at an airbase there.
He attended Holmes Community College where he played football for two years.
“We won the Big Black Conference. Back then, that’s what it was called,” said Neal.
