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30 <br /> 1 Chair Price thanked the Tax Administrator for taking the time to meet with community <br /> 2 members. She said the focus was on Northside, but other areas of the county were also seeing <br /> 3 disparities. She said she looks forward to further analyses forthcoming. <br /> 4 Commissioner Hamilton thanked tax staff for hearing her questions and providing <br /> 5 information to her. She said she hopes residents will hear that the Board and staff do care and <br /> 6 are willing to look into issues. <br /> 7 Commissioner Richards asked if there will be some kind of a "lessons learned" in <br /> 8 addition to the statistics at the end of this process, and if there will be an overall assessment of <br /> 9 how the county approaches the revaluation process. <br /> 10 Nancy Freeman said one of the takeaways is that field reviews are so very important <br /> 11 and staff realized it would never complete an only desktop review. She said staff will include <br /> 12 some lessons learned in the report to the BOCC. <br /> 13 Commissioner Fowler said she appreciates Commissioner Richards' question. She said <br /> 14 it seemed like the whole process was inequitable because lower homes were overvalued and <br /> 15 vice versa. She asked if the county will need to continue with the appeals process moving <br /> 16 forward, or will the county be able to find a different process that's more equitable in general. <br /> 17 Nancy Freeman said the county relies on information provided by taxpayers, and <br /> 18 communication and relationships between the two is important. She said tax staff is often not <br /> 19 given access to go into a home or a building. She said the continuing work with the community <br /> 20 is important to secure accurate information and to avoid situations like happened with <br /> 21 disparities. She said the Tax Office also needs to do more outreach to the community <br /> 22 publicizing that now is the time to get accurate information to tax office. <br /> 23 Commissioner Fowler said she appreciates the work of the tax office and hopes that it <br /> 24 ended with more equitable values placed. She said there were 185 commercial appeals, and <br /> 25 asked if these were all in Northside. <br /> 26 Nancy Freeman said there were 135 informal commercial appeals countywide, not <br /> 27 specific to Northside. <br /> 28 Chair Price said staff had to abide by state statute in this process, which is important to <br /> 29 remember. She said in working with community organizations and groups, staff is able to see <br /> 30 what is really happening, and if goal is to preserve some of these neighborhoods, the county is <br /> 31 going to have to use some other strategies and work with the towns to see what is really <br /> 32 happening in neighborhoods. <br /> 33 Commissioner Greene said she was in Asheville recently, and Buncombe County is <br /> 34 having virtually the same issue. She said this county started a committee to review the issue. <br /> 35 She suggested staff contact tax staff in Buncombe for suggestions. <br /> 36 Chair Price said Commissioner Greene is correct, and this is happening across the <br /> 37 country in many areas and for many years. <br /> 38 <br /> 39 A motion was made by Commissioner Hamilton, seconded by Commissioner Bedford, to <br /> 40 take a three minute recess. <br /> 41 <br /> 42 Roll call ensued <br /> 43 <br /> 44 VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> 45 <br /> 46 A motion was made by Commissioner Fowler, seconded by Commissioner Bedford, to <br /> 47 reconvene the meeting at 9:44 p.m. <br /> 48 <br /> 49 Roll call ensued <br /> 50 <br /> 51 VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />