The Marion County Board’s budget committee is recommending to the full county board that a company be hired to determine why Marion County is nearly the worst in the state for the differential between property tax assessments and sale prices of real estate.
One of the principals of Property Evaluation and Tax Advisors, LLC, Gary Twists, explained what the $14,800 study will give the county.
“A countywide reassessment by an outside firm can be expensive. This study will provide multiple paths of improvement, which may include more cost-effective choices for Marion County. This study will be statistical and procedural in nature. It is not the intention of the study to evaluate job performance or make judgment of the ability of any current or past assessment official from Marion County.”
The company would be paid $14,800 to complete the study. Twists says it’s likely the overall tax assessments are close to where they need to be, but there are big discrepancies between properties. Twists warned that going forward with a complete property tax reassessment in the county would likely cost a million dollars.
The committee and audience seemed in agreement that everyone needs to pay their fair share. The 50 people in attendance at Monday night’s finance committee meeting applauded the decision to move forward with the study.
Supervisor of Assessments Mark Miller says he is all for the study and any improvements the group can recommend. But he also told the committee that a comparison of tax assessments of similar chain businesses in Marion County and other area counties shows Marion County generally is in the middle for the amount of property taxes being paid.
Miller also tried to counter statements from several business owners who said high property taxes were keeping them from moving forward on new projects by showing a list of completed renovations and new construction in the Salem area, with several more in the planning stage.
