News
Assessor Sending “Change of Assessment” Notices to Landowners
May 4, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
Many DeKalb County land and business owners may see a change in their property assessments this year.
Assessor of Property Shannon Cantrell said “Change of Assessment” letters are being sent to those affected.
“Change of assessment letters are going out in May because the assessment on your property, whether it be real property or personal property, has either gone up or down. There has been a change so you will get a “change of assessment” notice,” Cantrell said.
If you don’t agree with your property assessments, Cantrell said you should not wait until you get your tax bill in the fall to try and do something about it. The time to raise concerns is when the DeKalb County Board of Equalization meets in June. Cantrell will be taking appointments for those appeals starting May 18. The Board of Equalization will meet in person starting Monday, June 1 from 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the auditorium of the county complex building with social distancing practices in place.
“Remember once the county board has met then you can no longer appeal locally for the 2020 taxes. I think that’s what catches a lot of people by surprise. They get their tax notice October 1 and that’s what really gets their attention if their taxes have gone up. Then they want to appeal it. But by that time the appeal for 2020 has already passed. We’re in the appeal season now,” said Cantrell.
“What is important to remember is that the county board of equalization normally meets the first week in June and if you would like to appeal your assessment now is the time to do that. Beginning May 18 call our office at 615-597-5925 and make an appointment to meet with the county board of equalization to discuss the assessment on your appraisal,” Cantrell continued.
“It doesn’t have to be that you had a change of assessment this spring. Maybe nothing changed from last year but maybe you weren’t pleased with your assessment last year. Anybody can come and see the county board of equalization,” Cantrell added.
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.
Guidelines for Absentee Voting Announced
May 4, 2020
By:
Election officials locally and across the state are gearing up for an increase in absentee voting due to health concerns related to the COVID-19 virus.
“Traditionally less than three (3) percent of DeKalb voters cast their ballot by mail, but we are anticipating an increase in that number, both for the August and certainly the November election,” said DeKalb County Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley. “With health concerns on their mind, now is the time to remind voters of the eligibility requirements and certain dates relating to absentee voting.”
The first day the election office can receive a written request for an absentee ballot for the August election is Friday, May 8th. “Requests received before Friday will be rejected,” Stanley said. The last day to request an absentee ballot is July 30.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO VOTE ABSENTEE BY-MAIL IN TENNESSEE?
In Tennessee, in order to vote absentee by-mail, a voter must have a qualifying reason. The following categories describe the voters who can abesnetee vote by-mail:
1. The voter will be outside the county of registration during the early voting period and all of Election Day;
2. The voter or the voter’s spouse is enrolled as a full-time student in an accredited college or university outside the county of registration;
3. The voter’s licensed physician has filed a statement with the county election commission stating that, in the physician’s judgment, the voter is medically unable to vote in person. The statement must be filed not less than seven (7) days before the election and signed under the penalty of perjury;
4. The voter resides in a licensed facility providing relatively permanent domiciliary care, other than a penal institution, outside the voter’s county of residence;
5. The voter will be unable to vote in person due to service as a juror for a federal or state court;
6. The voter is sixty (60) years of age or older;
7. The voter has a physical disability and the voter’s polling place is inaccessible
8. The voter is hospitalized, ill, or physically disabled because of such condition, cannot vote in person (A person who is quarantined because of a potential exposure or who has tested positive for COVID-19 should vote absentee by-mail as a person who is ill);
9. The voter is a caretaker of a person who is hospitalized, ill or disabled;
10. The voter is a candidate for office in the election;
11. The voter serves as an Election Day official or as a member or employee of the election commission;
12. The voter’s observance of a religious holiday prevents him/her from voting in person during the early voting period and on Election Day;
13. The voter or the voter’s spouse possesses a valid commercial driver’s license (CDL) or the voter possesses a valid Tennessee Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) card and certifies that he/she will be working outside the state or county of registration during the open hours of early voting and Election Day and has no specific out-of-county or out-of-state address to which mail may be sent or received during such time;
14. The voter is a member of the military or is an overseas citizen.
“We know a lot of voters will take advantage of the fact that if they are 60 years of age or over they are eligible to vote absentee,” Stanley said. “We’re getting ready for that.”
In addition, Stanley reminded first time voters there is another stipulation regarding absentee by-mail voting.
“If a person is a first-time voter who registered by mail, they are not eligible to vote absentee unless they convert their registration to in person by presenting a valid photo ID in-person to the county election office before the July 30 deadline.” he said.
MAKING THE REQUEST
A registered voter may request an absentee ballot by: mail, fax and email. The request MUST INCLUDE the voter’s signature. In addition, the request MUST INCLUDE the following EIGHT (8) items:
1. The name of the registered voter;
2. The address of the voter’s residence;
3. The voter’s Date of birth;
4. The voter’s Social Security number;
5. The address to mail the ballot outside the county (this applies only when the reason for voting by mail involves that the voter will be outside of the county during early voting and on election day);
6. The election the voter wishes to participate in. If the election involves a Primary, the political party in which the voter wishes to participate;
7. The reason the voter wishes to vote absentee;
8. The voter’s signature. (If the voter is unable to sign his/her name, contact the Election Commission office for details.)
A printable request form can be found on the local election commission website at www.dekalbelections.com.
As stated above, the request can be mailed to; DeKalb Election Office, P.O. Box 543, Smithville, TN 37166; emailed to dekalbelections@dtccom.net or dekalb.commission@tn.gov; or faxed to 615-597-7799.
“Voters are encouraged to get their requests in as soon as possible,” Stanley said, and upon receiving a ballot, returning it as soon as possible.
“Remember, the actual ballot must be mailed to the above address. The actual ballots cannot be hand-delivered to our office,” he concluded.
City Looking to Cut Proposed Construction Costs of New Police Department Building
May 3, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
Efforts are underway to cut the proposed construction costs of a new police department building for the City of Smithville.
Bids were opened in March but they were much more than anticipated.
(Click link to view plans)
The lowest of the five bids submitted came from the Boyce Ballard Construction Company of Murfreesboro at $2.685 million for a total roofed area of 12,800 square feet which includes a 1,400 square foot sally port (for driving prisoners into the facility) but does not count the cost of any furnishings which might be needed for the building. Original plans were to keep the project at 8,000 to 9,000 square feet and at or below $2 million.
For some aldermen, the cost ($2.685 million) is too much.
“We need to cut that down. There is a lot of stuff in there priced sky high. I don’t want to put it off. We need to get it (police department out of city hall). I just want to cut this price. Cut corners where you can and tell them to give us a good building and still get what we want,” said Alderman Danny Washer during a work session on March 16.
In the latest workshop Tuesday night, April 28, the mayor and aldermen met with Wayne Oakley of Studio Oakley Architects, LLC of Lebanon who designed the proposed building, prepared construction documents, and assisted the city in putting the project out for bids.
Oakley said the plan could be easily whittled down to $2.5 million without much problem, but any lower and the square footage of the project would have to be downsized.
“If you are telling me to cut this to $2.5 million then we can get there next week but if you tell me we need to get down closer to $2 million then we’ll have a lot of work to do to cut that kind of money out of the project. I think to get to $2.2 million we will have to cut square footage of the building. I would like to know from you guys what are we aiming for and then what I propose to do in conjunction with the mayor and chief is to look at the plans and figure out things we can cut and go to the low bidder and work with them to see if we can negotiate this thing down to where you want it to be. If for some reason we get to a point where we cannot move forward with them (low bidder) then we can drop down to the next lowest bidder or we could revise the bid documents and put it out for bids a second time. I am a little concerned about how many bidders we would have because I do think a lot of the bidders we had from the Nashville area may not come back and bid a second time,” said Oakley.
The proposed facility encompasses a front lobby, records clerk office, hallways, three holding cells, armory, conference and training rooms, offices for the chief, captain, detectives, and other officers, rooms for records, evidence, investigations, filing reports, locker room, electrical room, closets, restrooms, break room, and a sally port.
“I think each of you want the building to be something nice. If you are going to spend $2 million on something you want it to look like its $2 million. There are a lot of features that we need for safety, convenience and workability like a sally port where we can pull in and don’t have to worry about someone (prisoner) running off but there are some things on the inside that we could probably scale back and not remove entirely. I just don’t know how much money that would save. In the design we made it so that 25-30 years from now there would be room for growth in the police department and the mayor and aldermen at that time would not be faced with this problem now. This is something that the city and police department need,” said Chief Mark Collins.
“If we stay with the square footage we have now in this proposal and we cut some things out we have discussed can you come back with an (updated) price,” asked Alderman Washer.
“We can do that,” answered Oakley.
“I like the layout of the plan and I think it is something we need but we also need to get it as close as we can to $2.2 million. If you go past $2.5 million I don’t see it happening,” said Alderman Washer.
During the March 16th work session, John Werner, Vice President of Cumberland Securities of Knoxville met with the Mayor and Aldermen as an advisor to outline financing options through general obligation bonds with repayment terms over 12 to 25 years.
Mayor Miller said Tuesday night, April 28 that he would contact Werner again for some updated projections on what it would cost the city to fund the project for possibly up to 20 years.
“If you are going to have a building that will last for 30, 40, or 50 years then 20 years is not a long payout but at 12 years I think it will push your budget so hard you are going to be looking at a tax increase,” said Janice Plemmons Jackson, the city’s financial advisor.
Jackson also cautioned about possible change orders and cost overruns that would drive up the price of the project.
“Any time I have ever watched people build they think they will spend a certain amount but they wind up spending more. Here we are talking about cutting the cost and getting it down to $2.5 million but if there are cost overruns we may be back to $2.7 or $2.8 million. I bring that up because we were first saying it could be built for not more than $2 million and now we’re already talking about a lot more,” she said.
“I like to think that we have a real tight set of drawings. I think the numbers being as close together as they are from five bidders shows that we are there. Did we miss something? Probably so but I don’t think we are looking at anything substantial,” said Oakley.
Oakley plans to make some suggestions on cuts and bring back an updated proposal to the mayor and aldermen within the next few weeks for consideration.
For more than 40 years the Smithville Police Department has been headquartered in the city hall building downtown.
Police Chief Collins has said the existing police department has outgrown city hall with offices scattered out on both floors of the two story building creating a lack of room and security.
Plans are to build the new police department on the north side of the city hall/fire department complex at Don Cantrell Street on land donated to the city.
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