Back in February I wrote a piece about the new tax appraisals and taxing process for the Tate Record. (Who Knows About Taxes? February 5, 2025 https://www.taterecord.com/who-knows-about-taxes).
We’re now four months down the road. Here’s an update and a refresher.
State law requires each county to do a new appraisal every four years. This is one of the required years. Property values are based on recent sales of similar properties in each county and appraised values are calculated based on a formula from the Mississippi Department of Revenue. The proposed values are sent to MDOR, calculated according to their formula, and returned to the counties. Cards with the newly appraised values are then sent to individual taxpayers through the post office.
The first part of that process is complete. The appraisals are done. The cards have been sent.
The appraisals are higher than last year. Some appraisals that I’ve heard about are running 25-30% above the previous appraisals.
What’s next?
For many people, the next step should be a phone call to the Tate County Tax Assessor’s office at 662-562-6100 to ask questions or to schedule an appeal. The tax office will answer questions any time. Formal appeals can be scheduled for the week of July 14-18.
What else is happening? Lots of stuff. Lots of stuff is happening.
The sheriff’s office, road department, solid waste, fire services, and other county offices will turn their budget requests in to the supervisors. The department heads are working on those now.
Those budget requests are due by July 1.
Once they’re all in, the department heads, county administrator, and supervisors will work through the budget requests to set a final county budget.
Schools, too
Don’t forget the schools. The schools submit funding requests totally separate from the rest of the county budget. These requests are in dollar amounts.
State law requires the county supervisors to adjust millage rates as needed to provide that funding up to a set amount. In other words, up to a certain point, if the school board says they need more money, they get it.
The Tate County School Board has proposed an increase in county funding of about $500,000 for FY 2026.
There’s more
Now, back to the timeline and the lots of stuff that’s happening.
Once the various department budgets are set and the school district makes its request, what happens next?
County revenue comes from a variety of sources. Property taxes, car tags, state aid, federal grants, garbage fees, and other sources all contribute to the county budget. Total revenue will be projected and compared to expected expenses. Numbers will be adjusted, tweaked, juggled, and contorted to make the projections match.
Do the math
One of the factors that can be adjusted is the millage rate. This is the only revenue piece the county supervisors can control.
At its simplest, property taxes are calculated based on two factors-assessed value and millage.
Millage is basically tax rate expressed in 1/1000 of a dollar of assessed value. In back-of-the-envelope terms, one mill generates about $10 of taxes for every $100,000 value. The higher the assessed value, or the higher the millage rate, the higher taxes go.
If you lower the rate or lower the value, taxes go down. The assessed value of a property comes from a formula set by the Department of Revenue. That’s not going to change at the county level.
The millage rate for the county very likely will change.
I’ve talked privately with several supervisors.
All of them say they want to lower the millage rate. How much? That depends on total assessed value, other sources of revenue, and projected expenses.
The timeline
When will we know? State law requires the budget and tax rates to go into effect October 1.
The budget, including tax rates, must be approved no later than September 15. A public hearing must be held during the first part of September.
That means the notice for public hearing on the proposed county budget must be published in August.
And the answer is . . .
Now, back to the two questions we started with.
Will taxes go up? When will we know?
Here's the best answer I have.
We’ll know for sure after all this plays out but no later than September 15.
More questions? Comments? Call your supervisors at 662-562-4647, or the Tate County Tax Assessor/Collector at 662-562-6000. The Tate County Schools number is 662-562-5861.
Ricky Stevens is a regular contributor to the Tate Record. He pays taxes, too. He can be reached at rstevens@tatecountyms.gov.
