Reappraisal effects discussed

The real estate reappraisal in Highland County and its effects were discussed at the weekly Wednesday morning meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners.

Steve Fligor, a Greenfield landlord, was in attendance to voice his displeasure at what he has seen from the reappraisal. He said he has around 50 properties “at any given time” and the reappraisal is “high” on his agenda. He said he’s already appealed 21 of the properties, with the reappraisal to take between $800,000 and $1 million out of Greenfield’s economy.

Fligor said this reappraisal means he’s “forced” to raise rents by between $20 and $50 per month for people who can’t afford it.

Fligor also said he was motivated to come to the board of commissioners after looking at a property that was previously boarded up, and then saw it was appraised at $139,000.

“The appraisals are really not the issue. It’s the impact of the appraisals,” Fligor said. “Property taxes are gonna skyrocket and that not only in Greenfield but the whole of Highland County and for what purpose?”

Dave Daniels, chairman of the board of commissioners, said the county has done what it is required to do by state law. He said that the process is a “mass appraisal” and that some of them are “spot on.”

“In other cases, they are way out of line and the law allows for a procedure to come in and make those arguments,” Daniels said. “And everybody, you just can’t come in and say I don’t like that my taxes are gonna go up. You have to have some kind of proof to come along with it and Alex has kind of outlined that here a week ago. Bring in some pictures, bring in some documentation to show that we’re wrong. We recognize that some of these are wrong. We recognize that burnout houses may very well be overvalued and we need to knock those down. But that’s why everybody needs to follow the system that’s in place that we’re required to follow by law. And again, I think we’ve all spoken to our state representatives and state senators.”

Daniels then said the board is looking at ways it can “lessen the burden,” but also said that people should look at their value and come in and make their case to the Highland County Auditor and the reappraisers.

Vickie Warnock, Highland County Treasurer, then said her office has a program where people can pre-pay toward next year’s taxes as an escrow program, just in case anyone would like to try and offset that cost somewhat.

In other news, Linda Shaffer, a concerned Clay Township citizen, was in attendance at the meeting to see what kind of progress was being made with the possible park coming to the location of the old school.

Terry Britton, a member of the board of commissioners, said people “should” be seeing progress made because a bid was awarded last week. He said the hold-up on the project was funding due to the first round of bids coming in over what the grant could afford.

He also said some of the items for the park had to be reduced from the plan due to that funding gap. He said there would still be a ball diamond as well as new fencing put on it. He then said a shelter would be built and a “few other little things.” Britton then said that the playground would either need to be refurbished or something else done.

However, he also said there probably wouldn’t be enough money left over to do security cameras, following a question from Shaffer.

Britton then said this entire project needs to be finished by the end of the year based on the grant’s funding requirements.

The board of commissioners also held a discussion on the Right Stuff software that Highland County Job and Family Services (HCJFS) and the Highland County Sheriff’s Department plan on implementing.

Both of the two organizations signaled their approval to move forward with the software for billing and agreed to allow an official quote to be brought before the board of commissioners in a future meeting.

Amy Bradley, Highland County HR director, said she did a rough breakdown of software’s cost, with the Sheriff’s Office being about $900 per month and HCJFS at about $1,000 per month, with those prices not including the implementation fee.

Jeremy Ratcliff, director of HCJFS, said this cost would not be supplemented at all by the levy planned to be on the November ballot.

Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders then said he would need to amend his 2025 budget to insert this new cost but would find a way to do so.

Julie Bolender, director of Highland County Economic Development, said the space for the Workforce Development Center is “working out wonderfully,” saying they have all the necessary technology and “ample” space for students. With that, she said they received their updated lease from Highland County Communication Action Organization.

She said it will be three years this upcoming January since the building’s original lease. Bolender also said that when they were told there wouldn’t be a lease increase until three years after the original, meaning this next lease will have an increase. She said it will be an additional 50 cents per square foot, working out to $882.50 more per year.

Bolender also gave an update on the Appalachian Community Grant Program (ACGP) implementation. She said she’s been working with Hillsboro, Leesburg and Lynchburg on their different programs.

She said she has been working with state-appointed planner Choice One Engineering on finalizing their plans. She said, after that, they would get things ready to be sent out for bid. She also said people would start to see bid announcements within the next “few months,” with bid openings and awards to come following that. Bolender then said people “should” start to see dirt move in Spring 2025.

Daniels also reported on multiple upgrades that might need to be done for the Sheriff’s Office flooring and then tiling at the Justice Center.

Sheriff Sanders said the flooring needs to be done because it hasn’t been replaced since 2001.

He said, in terms of the tiling, that will require some figuring out. He said he thinks the tiling company said it would be a four-day project. Then, he also said he would need to contact them to see if it’s possible to separate parts of the building to move the prisoners for two days and then move them back for the other two days of work, or if they would all need to be moved for the full four-day work.

This discussion was then tabled until all of the details could be worked out.

The board of commissioners also received a notice from Tri Leaf about the company conducting a review for a possible telecommunications project in the Lynchburg area. Daniels said the notice came with a request for comment about whether or not the project would bump up against any historic landmarks in the area or anything of that nature. Daniels then asked for the leadership in Lynchburg to be notified of this so they could raise any questions or concerns about the project.

The board of commissioners announced that no bids were received for the Leesburg Industrial Park Crop Land Bid request.

The board of commissioners also approved one authorization to execute, that being a Contractor’s Application for Payment to Doll Layman, Ltd. for Application No. 13.

There were five resolutions approved by the board of commissioners, which are as follows:

*Res. No. 24-167 is an authorization for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within County General (1000) fund in the amount of $78.88.

*Res. No. 24-168 is an authorization for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within Board of DD Development (2500) fund in the amount of $244,000 for the pass-through of Capital Housing Funds.

*Res. No. 24-169 is an authorization for an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within Board of Elections August 2023 Special Election (2305) fund in the amount of $945.54.

*Res. No. 24-170 is an authorization for an additional appropriated from unappropriated funds within County General (1000) fund in the amount of $1,500.

*Res. No. 24-171 is a request from the Highland County Engineer for a budget modification within 2065 Repair MVL fund in the amount of $80,000.

There were also two contracts approved by the board of commissioners, which are as follows:

*Contract 49 is between the board of commissioners, the Home Investment Partnerships Program and Brenda Holt for the Home Program for a Homeowner Written Agreement.

*Contract 50 is between the board of commissioners, the Highland County Treasurer and Canon for the purchase and maintenance of a Canon Copier.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.