While some people in Wilson County who are appealing their property tax revaluations say that the company responsible for doing the assessments did a poor job, tax officials disagree.
Wilson Tax Administrator Randy Faircloth said he thinks the company, Assessment Solutions of Midland, did a good job, even though it was only the second time the company had done a countywide revaluation.
Faircloth points to the relatively low number of people who have appealed, just over 4 percent of property owners, as proof that the company did a good job assigning values for the vast majority of property in Wilson County.
Bladen County officials, where Assessment Solutions did its first revaluation, also say that they are satisfied with the company.
However, in Bladen County, which completed its revaluation a year ago, there are still appeals taking place over the assessed property.
Assessment Solutions completed Wilson County's revaluation this January, and, on average, property values in the county increased 20 percent.
Bladen County property increased an average of 30 percent after its revaluation.
Bladen County Manager Greg Martin said the county chose Assessment Solutions because it submitted a bid proposal of $450,000, which was considerably lower than the one presented by the next lowest bidder, and Tim Cain, president of the company, was a native of the county and respected in his field as an assessor.
"We were glad with our selection of Assessment Solutions," he said. "Based on the experience we had last year, he certainly will be given a strong consideration when we do the next revaluation."
But a number of people did appeal their assessments to the Board of Equalization and Review.
"There were several sessions of appeals," Martin said. "But relatively speaking, not a very high number considering what other counties had."
In Bladen County, the highest increases were around Bay Tree Lake and White Lake, where property was assessed more than the 30 percent average increase to the county, Martin said.
"That was just because the market had changed over an eight-year period," he said.
Rhonda Griffin, editor of the Bladen Journal, who was a reporter at the time of the revaluation in Bladen County and covered stories about it, said some people are still going through the appeals process.
She said when the revaluations were first sent out there was a significant amount of opposition.
"There was a drastic increase," she said. "It was to the point to almost being insanity."
Some people showed up at commissioners' meetings, but after the notices were sent out meetings were held at the tax office with the tax administrator and representatives from Assessment Solutions explaining the process, Griffin said.
"As soon as people got their tax bills, they were having fits," she said. "We are a very poor county, one of the poorest in the state. The taxpayers received a big hit and it affected quite a few of them."
Wilson County, which paid Assessment Solutions $631,000 to do the 18-month job, also selected the company because it was the lowest qualified bid.
Since then Assessment Solutions has been hired by Lee and Yancey counties to perform their revaluations. Cain would not return calls for this story.
eddie@wilsontimes.com | 265-7820