Hotel’s attorney again says property overvalued for taxes

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, August 24, 2004

[8/24/04]The attorney for a local hotel told supervisors Monday his client’s property was still overvalued for tax purposes, but he was promised no relief.

Warren County’s governing board has been hearing valuation protests, part of the budget process each August.

Of eight protests received in writing, as required, the board voted to uphold the valuation assigned by Tax Assessor Jim Agent for five and reduce the assessment for three.

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For one of the three, Hampton Inn at 3332 Clay St., supervisors voted to reduce the valuation by $150,000 to about $5 million, but attorney Clifford Whitney III, representing the owners of the hotel, said that amount is still higher than gauged by an appraiser working for the company.

“These hotel units are being appraised at a much higher value than comparable hotel properties in Vicksburg,” Whitney said.

Whitney asked that the county board direct the tax assessor’s office to take another look at the valuation which he said should have been about $4 million.

District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon, board president, indicated a review was possible, but got no support from his colleagues.

“Even though the information wasn’t presented in a timely manner, I think we can direct Mr. Agent to take a look at this information and, if there is a mistake on Warren County’s behalf, to look at it again,” Selmon said.

“Mr. Selmon, you’ve been on this board for eight years, same as me, and I’ve never known the State of Mississippi to give supervisors the authority to tell the tax assessor what to do,” responded District 2 Supervisor Michael Mayfield.

District 5 Supervisor Richard George emphasized that the deadline had passed. The next step for the property owner would be to file an appeal in circuit court.

Supervisors have until the first Tuesday in September to complete county tax rolls and adopt the millage rate for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Vicksburg officials are also setting a budget. A public hearing has been set for 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall Annex.