It's a year later and promised review of farm use parcels still not completed
By LARRY HILLIARD Ledger Staff Writer larry@gaffneyledger.com

Cherokee County Assessor Robert Everett told county officials last May he planned to review more than 1,000 parcels that may no longer qualify for a substantial tax break.

Nearly 12 months later, that review has yet to begin, Everett said Friday.

In a memo to county officials, Everett said his office discovered almost 1,100 properties of less than five acres currently included in an agricultural use exemption.

Land classified as agricultural is taxed between $1 and $1.50 an acre compared to the 4 and 6 percent assessments for residential and commercial parcels.

State law requires a minimum of 10 acres for farms with crops and five acres for timber land. Landowners can also qualify for agricultural use by showing $1,000 of gross income from property for three of five years.

"...and those not qualifying will be notified that the exemption has been extinguished and the owners will have to reapply and requalify," Everett told county officials in the memo.

Everett cited confusion in the law and the possibility that counties may be on the hook for the legal fees of property owners who challenge the loss of their exemption in court as reasons to delay the review.

"It's a big issue to all tax assessors," Everett said. "But the law is so convoluted. We are just trying to cope with it. Every county treats it differently. We are doing the best we can."

Everett also said some parcels under five acres would still qualify for the exemption if they haven't changed hands since 1985. Everett said he doesn't have the time to research if the properties fall into that category.

The farm use exemption became a major issue several years ago when the previous tax assessor, Barry Kelley, claimed that only 64,000 of the 200,000 acres listed under farm use by the U.S. Census Bureau were actually being used for agricultural purposes.

Cherokee County Interim Administrator Ben Clary said Everett hadn't received specific instructions to determine how many property owners were improperly receiving the tax break. But Clary said he expected the farm use exemption review to be conducted during the recently completed property reassessment.

"I'm not really interested in just looking at the agricultural use property or the residential (properties) that aren't owner-occupied," Clary said. "But (Everett) is going to have to answer to somebody at some point in time. I would have expected (the review) to be part of reassessment that's been going on for six years. I know he hasn't been here for all six years. But he's been here long enough to do it."

Cherokee County Councilman Bailey Humphries had even harsher criticism for Everett.

"I'm beyond upset," Humphries said. "He was instructed to see if the parcels were in compliance that's what he's supposed to do."