Rarely if ever have this many local Board of Tax Assessors in Georgia been under this much scrutiny.
In neighboring Wilkinson County, citizens have filed multiple lawsuits against its Board of Tax Assessors and its chief appraiser – Romona Vaifale. For whatever it’s worth, Vaifale previously was the chief appraiser in Baldwin County.
In neighboring Jones County, meanwhile, the thermostat was turned up even higher, and the Jones County Board of Commissioners ultimately voted to replace all five members of its Board of Tax Assessors.
The change in Jones County began with an online petition, and now a similar online petition is circulating here in Baldwin County. The “Residents of Baldwin County – Sign to REMOVE the board of Tax Assessors” petition on change.org was up to 845 “verified signatures” as of Tuesday morning.
Last Tuesday’s county commission perhaps offered a sneak preview, as Commissioner Scott Little and Commissioner Andrew Strickland both made it clear that they wished to replace the entire board. Then it came time for the commissioners to vote on reappointing Ronald Stevenson to an additional six-year term on the Board of Tax Assessors.
Stevenson is the representative from District 2, and the nomination to re-appoint Stevenson was made by District 2 Commissioner Kendrick Butts. Commissioner Sammy Hall initially indicated that he wouldn’t be voting for Stevenson.
When it came time to vote, however, Hall did vote “yes,” joining Butts and Commissioner Emily Davis. Little and Strickland voted no, and Stevenson was reappointed to an additional six-year term by a 3-2 margin.
The online petition lists nine different grievances.
Some are on the more wonky and technical side, including Failure to Conduct Required Ratio Studies, Inconsistent and Inequitable Property Valuations and Failure to Meet Statutory Assessment Standards.
The petition also asserts that “a board member had not completed required Department of Revenue Course I training as required” and “certain staff members failed to maintain required certification.” Another claim is that board meeting agendas were not legally posted within the proper time frame and that minutes from the meetings “failed to clearly reflect board votes and authorizations for revaluations.”
Property values around Georgia and the rest of the country increased rapidly following the COVID pandemic.
Statewide, according to the Georgia Association of Realtors, the median sale price of a home in Georgia increased from $302,332 to $448,554 between the end of 2020 and the end of 2025, representing a 48.3 percent increase.
Higher sale prices equal higher property valuations from the chief appraiser. In turn, this means that more property owners will file an appeal with the Board of Tax Assessors. This has created an appeals backlog in Baldwin County and other places, which inevitably has made it harder for the Board of Assessors to keep up. In other words, the job of being a tax assessor is much more difficult than it was a few years ago.