What does the verdict mean for taxpayers? The Gilmer County Tax Assessors Office put a three year-long court case behind them last week.
In a Tax Assessors meeting on Thursday, September 20th, Gilmer County Chief Appraiser Richard Lamb announced that a three year case between the county and citizen Lois Spence is now over. The verdict, though, may cause the county to dip into its contingency fund.

As reported Monday, the case dates back to a dispute over Spence’s 2006 property value. In last week’s trial, the Tax Assessors’ Office attempted to prove the property was worth $117,711, based on fair market value. The jury, however, did not rule in favor of the Tax Assessors’ Office and instead ruled in favor of Spence, determining the value of the property was $52,000.

“The jury made their decision, and we are going to respect that decision,”

Lamb told FYN yesterday. He also confirmed the tax assessor’s office would not appeal, and that the case was indeed over. But, what does the verdict mean for taxpayers? Will it force an increase in the millage and increase property taxes? Lamb says he does not expect an increase. Rather, the tax assessors will use the money in its contingency fund to pay any expenses incurred during the trial, if the county is required to pay any money at all.

“When I came back to this office a year ago, we had 11 outstanding court cases,”

Lamb said,

“This is the only one of those that is going to cost us anything, and since we still have money in the contingency fund, we plan on using it for this.”

For now, Lamb hopes that the attorney fees will not exceed the money in the contingency fund. Lamb says that the contingency fund had $59,566 in it as of July 31st , which means the fees could not exceed this amount. However, Lamb also says that he does not expect the attorney fees to be larger than this amount.

A court case has been scheduled for November 6th with Judge Amanda Mercier to determine the amount of the attorney fees, which the county may have to pay.
FYN will continue to follow this story as it develops.