Pickens, WalMart head to court in February

Pickens County and Walmart continue to haggle over tax revenues.

Roy Dobbs, Chief Appraiser, updated the board on an appeal filed by Walmart over the property taxes the corporation pays. A new hearing is scheduled for February 7.

Pickens County and retail giant, Walmart, will continue the appeals process to determine how much in taxes the store will pay in the county.

According to tax records, the tax value for Walmart is $10,453,384, which includes the building, $6,537,567; parking lot, $282,817; and the land value, 3,632,000. Walmart representatives proposed a total taxable value of $5,912,246.

“They appealed through a hearing office,” said Dobbs, “but the hearing office found in favor of Pickens.”

He credited the hard work and dedication of the staff in the appraisers office for doing such a good job.

Dobbs said the next step is taking the settlement conference, followed by a hearing in Superrior Court. This was originally scheduled for early January.

“Their tax reps are doing what they can to limit their tax liability,” Dobbs said. “Our staff has done a tremendous job addressing these issues.”

In other board news:

The Pickens County Board of Tax Assessors named Brad Bledsoe as the board chairman and Stephanie Gooch as board secretary at Thursday’s meeting. The board approved tax dispositions.

For a list of Pickens County government meeting, click here.

Susan Kirkland