Tax bills going up, but not for everyone

A recently completed countywide reappraisal project will result in higher property taxes for many Carroll County residents, but there is some good news.

Dennis Wells, the Carroll County appraisal manager for Arkansas CAMA Technology Inc., told the county quorum court at its regular meeting on Monday, June 20, that property values in the county have increased significantly in the five years since the last reappraisal was conducted.

ACT is a private company that was contracted by the county to conduct the reappraisal project.

“Everything has gone up,” Wells said. “Property values are going up. Taxes are going up.”

However, Wells said, any one whose property taxes are “frozen” — those 65 and older and those considered disabled by the Social Security Administration — will see no change in their tax bill. Additionally, state law stipulates that taxes on owner-occupied properties may only increase by 5 percent per year until an assessment of 20 percent of the parcel’s appraised value has been reached.

Wells said notices will be mailed to property owners on July 15.

“I think that’s a Friday,” he said. “Everybody gets to stew about it over the weekend before they can start calling.”

Property owners with questions about the values listed for their properties can contact appraisers employed by ACT and can appeal their appraisals to the Board of Equalization.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Also at the June 20 meeting, the quorum court heard reports from various committees.

District 2 JP Chuck Olson, speaking on behalf of the building and grounds committee, said the air-conditioning system at the Eastern District Courthouse in Berryville needs attention “before it goes bad.”

“That, I think, would cause a real hardship for everybody that’s going to be in that building at that time,” Olson said.

District 1 JP Jack Deaton said the budget committee met recently to discuss several topics, most notably the ongoing project to upgrade the county’s emergency communications system. That project will be a little more costly than previously anticipated because of issues related to towers, Deaton said.

District 8 JP Don McNeely, speaking on behalf of the personnel committee, said that group also met recently and discussed several items. Among those topics was the practice of Carroll County Sheriff’s Office deputies who live outside the county driving their county vehicles home. Some JPs have expressed concern about the cost of gas and wear and tear on the vehicles.

“Right now, we have 12 deputies take their cars from here to Bentonville, Rogers, Lead Hill and several in Boone County, Shell Knob,” McNeely said. “And it does add up to be a lot of extra miles. The way I figured it was 570 miles per day round-trip.”

McNeely said he is hopeful that a compromise can be reached on the issue, but he also urged the deputies to look for ways to reduce expenses. He pointed to a recent instance when he said deputies traveled to Rogers for training.

“I think three officers went and they took three different cars,” McNeely said.

In his personal career, McNeely said, he has carpooled on business trips to save his employer money.

“I’d just like for the sheriff’s office to start thinking that way,” he said.

District 6 JP Craig Hicks said the judicial committee recently met without a quorum. He said the committee is still considering the idea of a new judicial building and had been contacted by several architects.

“We did talk about the possibility of possibly calling a few of them in to talk to us and see just kind of where we are, what it might cost so we get a goal in mind, but right now, we’d kind of like to see how much money we’re going to start out with once the radio project is closer to being finished,” Hicks said.

ROAD PROBLEM

During public comments, JPs heard from Barbara Weems, a lifelong county resident who has been a property owner on County Road 205 for eight years. Weems said the road has always been well-maintained by the county but in the past six months the road has been damaged by heavy rains and a culvert has been washed out, leaving one neighbor unable to drive on or off her property. There was some question among JPs about whether the road is actually a designated county road, but District 10 JP Larry Swofford said County Judge Ronda Griffin said she would investigate the issue.

“This is basically all up to the county judge and she said she’s going to look into it,” Swofford said.

“Well, that’s a wonderful resolution,” Weems said. “Thank you.”

“We will check into it,” Griffin said.

POWER SURGE

JPs also heard a report from Mike McKelvey, the county’s emergency management director, about a power surge at the county law enforcement complex that knocked the dispatch system offline for about 12 hours beginning around 1 a.m. Tuesday, June 14. Calls to 911 were rolled to Madison County and Eureka Springs dispatchers were able to communicate with fire departments on the western side of the county.

“So that left the eastern side of Carroll County without radio communications back to the deputies and the city officers over here,” McKelvey said. “And it didn’t have any communications with the fire districts.”

Handheld radios were used to restore communications with fire districts, but dispatchers still could not communicate with deputies and other law enforcement. Ultimately, portable radios using magnetic antennas were set up to communicate with law enforcement. McKelvey said the source of the power surge was identified as an air conditioning unit on the roof of the building.

During her comments at the end of the meeting, Griffin praised the work of McKelvey and others in responding to the situation.

“When I went out to the sheriff’s department during the blackout, we have an amazing bunch of people working out there,” the judge said.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business, JPs approved:

■a resolution approving the reappointment of Pamela Grudek to the Carroll County Board of Equalization;

■an appropriation ordinance allowing road department employee Jerry Finch to be paid for vacation time in lieu of taking time off from work, with District 4 JP Duane Coatney casting the lone dissenting vote and arguing that paying overtime would be a better solution to the road department’s staffing issues;

■a supplemental appropriation ordinance designating $2,570 for an upgrade to the control access system at the Eastern District Annex building;

■an appropriation ordinance designating $1,436 to replace the roof at the Carroll County Detention Center, with County Clerk Connie Doss explaining outside the meeting that federal pandemic funding indirectly paid for the roof replacement because a portion of the federal money had been used to reimburse the sheriff’s office for employee wages;

■a resolution appointing Katie Zerr to the Eureka Springs Library board, replacing Martha Fargo;

■and a resolution appointing Joe Hill to replace Fargo on the Carroll County Library board.

■The Carroll County Quorum Court’s next regular meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday, July 18, at Southern Heights Baptist Church, 279 Arkansas 221 South in Berryville.