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