Four more revaluation appeals pushed back to June 15

T. J. ROYAL

Four more property revaluation appeals were heard Monday at the Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Robin Pigg and Kolouia Newsome, both of Tarboro, and Bernard Ferland of Sharpsburg spent around 45 minutes appealing their properties in person to the county Board of Equalization and Review, made up of the seven county commissioners. A fourth appellant was not present at Monday's meeting.

The board heard the three appellants and decided to give the appellants and Tax Assessor Cindy Coker's office until June 15 to come to an agreement and compromise on their property revaluations. Commissioners Chairman Leonard Wiggins noted, however, that some of the appellants at the May 4 meeting "did not have a chance to meet" with Coker's staff, whereas the three petitioners Monday said they had met with the Tax Assessor's office.

Ferland, who bought his Sharpsburg residence on the 300 block of Katie Drive less than two years ago, said he would tell the commissioners that they "did me the biggest favor" if they could find someone who would buy his home for its new assessed value of $99,000.

He said he purchased it for $55,000, $11,000 less than its 2001 assessed value. He added that if the county commissioners helped get someone to "show me the money, I'll take two-thirds (of $99,000) and run away" and leave his permanent residence behind.

Ferland told the commissioners that he felt "no (property) values in the county" could have gone up more than 30 percent, like his home did. Coker had said previously that the new revaluation resulted in a 32 percent increase in the total value of all of Edgecombe County's properties, up to $2.1 billion.

Commissioners Wayne Hines and Jon Felton said their home values went up by at least 30 percent, with Hines adding that "they got me too." But when Ferland asked if Hines could sell his home for its present value, Hines shook his head and said he could not.

Coker recommended the $99,000 value for Ferland's property because of its earning potential from federally-subsidized Section 8 lower-income housing. She said that the space would generate around $9,000 in income each year if its space was rented out at $750 each month.

Newsome, speaking for herself and her husband, said she did not expect the 250 percent increase she received on her undeveloped lots on Northern Boulevard in Tarboro. Now, her three lots on Northern Boulevard are valued at $14,000 each.

Newsome said she was told by Tarboro appraiser and Town Councilman John Jenkins that "there was no way the lots were worth $14,000 a piece." She cited undeveloped lots near her property that were sold for $4,000 and $6,500.

Coker said that one of those pieces of property a ditch in the middle of it, and that the other she did not believe was "an arm's length" transaction, because it was entered into a trust.

The tax assessor added that comparable, undeveloped lots on Hope Lodge Street have "been selling for $18,000" a piece.

Tarboro developer Robin Pigg told the commissioners he disagreed with the values on more than a dozen of his properties. He half-jokingly said that he would be willing to "give" the county some pieces of property on Ridgewood Road, where he said they're valued at $4,500 and would take several thousand more dollars to hook up county sewer and water to. Commissioners Vice-Chairman Charlie Harrell smiled at the suggestion.

But Pigg also suggested that his lot on the 400 Block of Hope Lodge Street, valued at $9,000, was not a "feasible" spot to have water and sewer, and so could not be developed.

Pigg also said that he did not understand his $105,000 valuation on 8.47 acres of land on Saint Andrew Street, when it had been valued at $38,000 in 2001. Felton noted that, given the neighborhood in Tarboro, the property had been "obviously way undervalued" at that time.

The commissioners will meet at 2 p.m. on June 15 at the Edgecombe County Administration Building in Tarboro on Saint Andrew Street. They will likely adopt their 2009-10 budget and finalize property values as the Board of Equalization and Review.

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