LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) – Lauderdale County Tax Collector Doris Spidle spoke on the 20% increase in property value from the latest 2024 assessment.
Spidle talked about partial payment options and how this will affect all residents of Lauderdale County, including those within city limits.
Her interview is as follows:
“The tax bills are going out in November, and I wanted people to be aware that their taxes are going up. Now I do not have anything to do with that. The situation is that the state mandates reassessment every four years. 2024 was a reassessment, and the values went up 20% which is going to make your property tax go up also. Now, if you’re going to sell your property, that’s great news, because the value has gone up, but you’re living there trying to pay bills, that’s not such good news to know your taxes are going up, but the assessor could explain it probably better than I, However, she knows the ins and the outs of it better than I do, but I do know it was state mandated. That’s not an option. You do what State tells you to do, you know. So the bills that go out in November will be considerably higher. I’m guessing the 20% value may make your bill go up anywhere from 10 to 15% now the exception to that is if you are over 65 and have filed homestead exemption, your your taxes will remain the same because there’s a law in place that states that.
I know a lot of people think that I did it, but I just collect what the board and the assessor tell me to collect. They send those files to me. I send them to the printers. They print the bills out and mail them out. So I didn’t raise your taxes, I have to pay the same increase that you would have to pay. So, you know, had I had an option, I wouldn’t have raised taxes either. But I do want people to understand that when they get those tax bills, they can make partial payments. They do not have to pay the entire amount. They can make partial payments until August, when it goes to the land sale. So if that helps, some of my office is more than willing to help anyone that they can, you know, to make the partial payments and any amounts that they want to.
It will affect the entire county of Lauderdale, because even if you’re in the city, you’re still in Lauderdale County. And this assessment affects the city, because when they reassessed, they pick up everything that’s in Lauderdale County, which would be Marion city of Meridian, and of course, Lauderdale County, so everybody’s taxes are going up. It’s not just county or city. Everyone’s taxes are affected by that. The assessor’s office sets the value. The Board of Supervisors set the millage rates. Now, if those millage rates go up, even though your value stays the same, your taxes are going to increase because you multiply the value times the millage rate based on where you live, and it gives you the amount of taxes that they tell me to collect, the millage rate did not go up. The city, I believe, reduced theirs a fraction, but overall it didn’t.
The value increased so much, it did not lower your tax bill by them going down. It would just affect the people in the city, but it was a small amount, and when you’re looking at a 20% increase, that is going to make your taxes go up considerable, and there’s not anyone that doesn’t have compassion for people out there more than me.
I hate that I’m sending you out a bill that is going to make you very upset when you get it. I hate that, but it’s my job as tax collector. That’s what I was elected to do, is collect the money that is owed to the county. So I’m just trying to do my job, But I do have great compassion for the residents of Lauderdale County.”
