“First of all,” he said, “if we have extra money in our budget, we need to be spending it on Fire Stations, more than anything.”

Last Thursday, Interim Chief Tax Appraiser Richard Lamb and Assessor Chairman Jeff Holloway sought signatures from the Board of Commissioners for a new contract. The contract is for an appraisal company called Traylor Business Services (TBS). For the past month or so, the Board of Assessors has been negotiating with TBS to establish an affordable and beneficial contract for its appraisal services. Several weeks ago, they finally came to a provisionary agreement, where the company will come in and help train staff on personal property matters and audit commercial and industrial property. As is, the contract could cost the county up to $10,000 for services from now until the end of the year. Initially, the Assessors’ Office wanted to negotiate a contract for three months. But, when FYN asked Lamb if TBS would pro rate the cost, since the contract would not provide services for the full three months, Lamb said,

“They’re only going to bill us on the work that they’ve done.”

The idea behind the brief length of services of the contract is to examine or assess the quality of services at the end of the contract. If the quality of service is high, then the county may consider extending the contract; if quality is low, the county can close out the contract and explore other options.

On October 13th, Lamb and Holloway came to the Board of Commissioners (BOC) workshop seeking the Commission Chair J.C. Sanford’s signature. The Board of Assessors has the authority to sign the contract without the BOC’s approval, because the cost is under the $20,000 ceiling specified in the charter. But, in the negotiations, TBS requested that the Commissioner sign the contract. For its part, TBS required the commission chair’s signature because of past misdealings. In the past, the company has had clients fail to pay for services because funds were not approved by commission chairmen. So, in Gilmer’s case, the chairman signature requirement is a security measure.

Chairman Sanford mostly approved of the contract and said he would sign it. Post 2 Commissioner Danny Hall, however, had numerous criticisms of the venture.

“First of all,” he said, “if we have extra money in our budget, we need to be spending it on Fire Stations, more than anything.”

Hall was also concerned about driving businesses out of the county. He believes commercial and industrial audits would have this effect. Hall clarified, though, he does not want people cheating on their taxes, but, at the same time, he does not want to tax people on property that they do not need to be taxed on. In response, Lamb showed Hall a list of businesses that have “fallen off the books,” meaning that they currently are not filing taxes. The same sheet also showed revenue the county would receive if these same businesses starting filing taxes again.

“If we collected half of that (revenue from uncollected taxes) and get them back on the books,” Lamb said, “then it will more than pay for the $10,000 on the contract.”

Siding with Hall, Post 1 Commissioner Will Beattie had reservations and was reluctant to take action on the contact.

In the end, Sanford affirmed his initial position, recommending the TBS contract for up to $10,000, but adding that before setting next year’s budget, the county should

“take a long, hard look at what we do next year.”

Sanford concluded by telling Lamb that his

“tendency right now, is to sign the contract,”

although as of the writing of this article, the contract has not been sign. The Board of Assessors will meet this Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Assessors Office to decide how to proceed with the contract.

In an ironic and semi-dramatic twist, at the meeting Lamb confirmed his resignation, which will not take effect until the end of the month—ironic because the majority of the board did not favor signing the contract. The BOC commended Lamb’s work over the past few months and kiddingly pleaded with him to stay. The Assessors Office is currently training a new staff member, who will not finish certification until next year. Lamb, though, offered to assist the county any way he could following his resignation.

Watch Lamb and Holloway discuss the Traylor contract with the BOC.