Members Appointed to County Equalization Board

Members have been appointed to the DeKalb County Equalization Board.
The county commission, during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, reappointed Russell Watson, Carl Dwayne Webb, and Phillip Hendrix to serve on the five member board. Robert Robinson will be a new member.
County Mayor Tim Stribling said Ronald Ashburn and Bobby Reynolds, who were appointed to the board two years ago, no longer wished to serve.
One other position remains to be filled. Stribling said he will find a candidate and make the appointment by the next county commission meeting in May.
Until 2014, the equalization board was made up of seven members, one from each district of the county. But under state law, there can be no more than five members. According to Tennessee Code Annotated (state law) “The county legislative body of each county shall, at the April session of each even year, from the different sections of the county, elect, for a term of two (2) years, five (5) freeholders and taxpayers who shall constitute a county board of equalization.”
Based on population, the City of Smithville can have one member on the board. Russell Watson has been serving in that position. Stribling said Smithville Mayor Jimmy Poss told him he was okay with Watson being reappointed
According to state law, county equalization boards across the state are to meet each year on June 1 (or the next business day if the 1st falls on Saturday or Sunday). The county board is authorized by law to receive and hear appeals of current year property tax assessments as fixed by the county assessor of property. Generally an assessment must be appealed to the county board of equalization to preserve the taxpayer’s right to further appeal.
The DeKalb County Equalization Board will meet this year on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, June 1, 2, & 3 and Monday and Tuesday, June 6 & 7 at the county complex in the office of the Assessor of Property.