Taxing entities in Attala County will see a cut in funds coming from a major drop in value of apartment duplexes in the area.
Section 42 housing in the area true value dropped over $1 million from its 2015 value, causing a possible decrease in tax revenue for the county, city and school systems. According to Attala County Tax Collector Brenda Williams, the four entities could lose as much as $35,000 in taxes derived from area apartment complexes.
“A lot of our local apartments are older, but a drop like this is not common,” Williams said.
In 2005, the Mississippi Legislature passed legislation to restrict assessments on Section 42 housing to the capitalized value of the property’s actual net operating income, not the construction cost of the developments.
“It is a little bit of a hit for us,” Mayor Jimmy Cockroft said. “However, the overall assessed value is about the same, so we will probably derive the same amount of tax revenue and the city should not have to increase taxes.”
Seven property owners in Attala County delivered their operating value to the county collectors office by the April 1 deadline, resulting in a $1,168,954 drop in true value and a $175,343 drop in assessed value. Yorkshire Apartments on Yorkshire Drive in Kosciusko showed the biggest drop in value from a $1,217,074 true value to a $484,723 true value in 2016.
The city will lose approximately $5,800, while Attala County and the Kosciusko School District and Attala County School District will each be down between $9,000 - $10,000.
