Murphy – Cherokee County Commissioner Jan Griggs frequently winds up the topic of discussion during board meetings.
Over recent months, she’s been at the center of a Tennessee Valley Authority plan to run more power lines through the western part of the county. Her property is affected, and TVA at first refused to appear at board meetings because of her involvement.
Griggs’ husband became a topic of controversy over whether he was rightfully first on a waiting list for hangar space at Western Carolina Regional Airport in Andrews.
And at the board’s meeting on April 24, Griggs found herself at the center of discussion over whether a tax appraiser correctly evaluated her property.
The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners invited tax assessor Teresa Ricks to answer questions about tax reassessment, including recent appraisals. The focus was on high property tax assessments, including properties that have seen their value increased by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Griggs’ property was among those affected – and she may have a point.
Why it matters is that these revaluations will have significant impacts on the taxes people pay. If a commissioner is experiencing inaccuracies, all property owners would be well advised to look carefully at their own property tax records.
According to Griggs, the appraiser who visited her property characterized a parked recreational vehicle connected to an extension cord and a battery charger as a campsite. The appraiser also claimed that flooring inside one of her buildings was high-end heart pine; it’s a wood floor but not heart pine; besides, there was no way for the appraiser to know because he did not go inside the building.
Griggs said she paid $6,800 for a carport that Ricks’ office appraised at $20,000. The appraiser also miscalculated the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
The tax assessment issue stems from properties that have not been recently appraised by the county – 13,128 in all, with some escaping notice as far back as 2007.
Ricks, who just recently received training for the job she was appointed to, said it had been common for tax appraisers to run out of time and skip whole neighborhoods during revaluation periods. She said her office is attempting to update the records.
Property cards for 2024 are not yet available to the public, but Ricks said 533 properties have been visited so far. Of those, 140 saw an increase in value and 23 saw a decrease, with the remainder unchanged.
Commissioner Ben Adams said he was aware of some properties that quadrupled in value, including one that increased by $300,000.
“Why?” he asked Ricks. “Nothing was improved.”
That particular property owner did not contest the appraisal, so they must have made some improvements, Ricks replied.
Griggs’ main properties were not among those that escaped notice. Hers were appraised as recently as 2020, but one parcel was appraised in 2010, a .16-acre sliver that adjoins just over 91 acres she owns off Guy Eller Road.
Ricks said in addition to an unrecorded campsite, there were six structures on Griggs’ property, when four were listed on the property record card.
“It does not make sense to me that some are correct and some are not,” Griggs said.
Ricks said she would have her appraiser take another look, but asked Griggs to provide documentation, adding that the burden of proof for tax appraisals “is always with the taxpayer.”
The Cherokee Scout reached out to Griggs and Ricks to discuss these and other issues. Griggs said she would think about responding but did not follow up. Ricks agreed to an appointment with the Scout but later canceled to reschedule.
It’s no secret that there is a tense relationship between Griggs and Ricks. Ricks has accused Griggs of harassment, while Griggs’ supporters accuse Ricks of insubordination and incompetence.
During the board’s April 24 meeting, tensions escalated to the point where Ricks said she was being harassed. When Griggs said she was just doing her job as a county commissioner, Ricks said she wasn’t referring to Griggs and gestured toward someone in the small audience attending the meeting.
Chair Cal Stiles chimed in, saying he and the board “just want to make sure we’re being fair.” He described it as a “failure” that the 2020 revaluation missed more than 13,000 properties.
“We can’t let this happen again,” Stiles said.
Tax bills go out in August based on previous revaluations. Property owners have between January and April 2024 to contest the latest revaluation.