This is a very busy year in the White County Assessor’s Office and I would like to let everyone to know what is going on. It is Re-appraisal time again for our County. State Law requires that all counties in the state are to be re-appraised every three years. This means we are to make sure all properties are appraised at the current market value. This is accomplished by physically canvassing the entire County and reviewing every property for changes and monitoring values as reflected from Deed Sales. We do this physical canvas for the first two years of the re-appraisal cycle. You may have met some of my staff appraisers in the field when they have visited your property during this process. My appraisers would have been looking at your property for changes concerning wear and tear, damage, or any improvements made to your property such as new roofing, new swimming pool, room additions, or other additions such as a new shed or barns and such. All these items would be reflected on your assessment at the end of each re-appraisal, while new homes and businesses (new construction) are added to the tax books on a yearly basis.

We are in the third year of our re-appraisal. This means we are in the process of reviewing, valuing and proofing all the values in the County. We will soon mail out roughly 40,000 notices to the tax payers of our County concerning changes in value to their assessments. This will also include all notices for new construction and notices for gas production to the royalty owners. When you receive your notice and have any questions concerning your value, you can call my office and ask to speak with one of my appraisers who have been working very hard these last three years on this valuing process. After the appraiser has reviewed your assessment and answered your questions, if you feel that your property is unfairly valued; you may make an appeal to the Equalization Board. This is a five member panel selected by the Quorum Court , County Judge , City Mayors and School Superintendents. An appointment will be scheduled for your hearing and you will have the opportunity to have your appraisal reviewed by them. Rest assured that my office does not in any way begrudge you the opportunity to have your appraisal heard by the board. We want to work with you in any way we can to make sure your property is fairly appraised according to the law that applies to us and to your property.

I also want to remind everyone at this time that the deadline for payment of taxes is October 10th, and while that is still a few months away, I would encourage you to at least look at your tax bill and make sure everything is in order, even if you do not plan on paying them for a while. I want to make sure that we have ample time to make any corrections to your taxes before the October 10th deadline. Make sure you have your Homestead Credit applied to the bill for your home. There are no provisions in the law for us to make corrections for the Homestead Credit after October 10th. If you are late paying your bill, in other words if you don’t look at your bill until say November, and you did not receive your entitled homestead credit, we will not be able to correct your bill for this current year, it can only be applied to next years bill.

Taxes are a burden we all bear and all of us at the Assessor’s Office do not like paying them any more that you do, and we understand your frustrations and will work very hard to make sure your assessments are fair and equitable. Call us anytime at 279-6208 (real estate) or 279-6205 (personal property), between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.