For the second straight year, property values are down slightly in Warren County and the county board must decide whether to raise property tax rates or cut spending to achieve about the same budget for fiscal 2013 as it did this year.

Real and personal property for homes, businesses and farms is worth $3,668,263,424, or .98 percent less than 2011, according the 2012-13 tax roll presented to the Board of Supervisors by the Tax Assessor’s Office. Last year, values fell a full 1 percent after six straight years of growth.

Tax Assessor Angela Brown said devaluation in areas hit hard by the record flood on the Mississippi River and slow commercial development caused this year’s decrease.

“I thought you all would like those numbers,” Brown happily told a seemingly relieved Board of Supervisors on Monday. “At least, with the great flood we had for 2011, it was out of obligation that we reappraise all those flood properties.”

MEA clinic and Wendy’s, both on East Clay Street, and Waffle House on Pemberton Square Boulevard and U.S. 61 South, came on the tax rolls this year, Brown said. The Halls Ferry Station strip mall, behind Walgreens at Halls Ferry and South Frontage roads, will be added upon its completion. Personal property refers to assets not fixed to land, such as business inventories.

Values from the assessor are subject to change during the year as exemptions and abatements alter the rolls. Warren County’s approximately 26,150 parcels grew in true value by about 3 percent annually from 2006 to 2011. Monday’s presentation was in accordance with a state-set deadline at the end of last week.

“I was scared it was going to be worse,” Board President Bill Lauderdale said as Brown read the numbers.

It was unclear how Ameristar Casino’s lawsuit against the county over its property tax liability for 2011 will affect the size of the land roll. In January, the casino filed suit in circuit court saying their tax bill for last year was more than $1 million too high. In 2010, the company and the county settled a similar suit over its property taxes. When asked, Brown, named as a defendant in the case along with county supervisors, said officials “still have to discuss that.”

This year, indexes plugged into the calculations were higher than last year — closer to the $147,000 baseline suggested by the Mississippi Department of Revenue than the $105,000 baseline used for eight years. Higher indexes mean higher values when counties change millage rates accordingly.

This year’s total translates into a loss to the general fund of $379,244, not including car tag and mobile home registrations, using the current millage rate, said County Administrator John Smith. Supervisors kept comments to a bare minimum as they accepted the rolls, save for a question from Lauderdale to Smith about the budget.

“Pretty much, we’re looking at close to the same budget we have right now,” Smith said, but added later supervisors may need to tinker a little with the county’s various revenue streams to make up the loss. Spending in the 2012 budget was projected to be $14.8 million.

This week, the board will check each district’s land value statistics for consistency. The public has 30 days to view their property status and file written objections, if any. An “objection hearing” is expected to be set for Aug. 6.

Property tax millage rates levied by Warren County held steady this year, at 40.53 mills. The city’s is 35.88 mills. The school district’s is 46.2 mills.

Reflective of the staff turnover in the Tax Assessor’s Office this year, postcards notifying property owners of looming value jumps weren’t mailed before this year’s reappraisal deadline. The criteria for who receives them will change this year, Brown said. Notes will be mailed to owners of property that went up by at least 10 percent. Previously, the threshold was $10,000.

This year’s reappraisals were done by Wes Kight and Associates LLC, based in Louisville, Miss., hired by the county at Brown’s suggestion. The company’s contract is worth $442,000 over the three-year period. Five veteran staffers, including in-house appraisers, retired, quit or were fired following Brown’s election last fall. Brandon-based Statewide Appraisal Services reappraised personal property this year and will again next year. That firm’s contract is worth $72,000 for two years.

Hiring outside help was projected to cost the county about $67,000 more in the 2013 budget compared to this year’s, which was approved before last fall’s county elections. All county departments, including those headed by elected officials, are expected to be submitted to the county board by month’s end.