Augusta's board of tax assessors on Tuesday named Alveno Ross, a sitting Macon, Ga., city councilman, as its top pick for chief appraiser, a position vacant since the November resignation of Calvin Hicks.
The board voted unanimously to make an offer to Ross, though its other finalist, James Davis, had withdrawn to take a job as chief appraiser in Upson County, board chairman Charles Smith said.
"Just because there was only one person left did not mean the person would automatically get the position," he said.
Smith has served as an unpaid, de facto chief appraiser since Hicks' departure to become chief appraiser in DeKalb County.
The office sets property values for tax purposes.
"We took our time and examined all the information we had to determine if this could be a good fit for Richmond County," he said. "If he hadn't been a good fit, then we would have advertised some more."
After 26 years with the Macon-Bibb Board of Assessors, Ross was named chief appraiser in Monroe County in 2008, according to The Macon Telegraph .
In April, Ross cited "political reasons" for a 3-1 vote by three newly appointed members of the assessors' board to fire him, The Telegraph reported.
Salary and contract negotiations with Ross have not begun, and the recommendation must also be approved by the Augusta Commission, Smith said.
Hicks completed a three-year contract with Augusta after serving as Macon-Bibb chief appraiser for 17 years. He replaced E.W. "Sonny" Reece II, who resigned under pressure from the board in March 2005.
Why would you hire someone who has been fired from same position
because of political reasons. He must not be familiar with Augusta and
the politicians we have. You talk about political reasons being a problem,
Augusta is not the place to come. Vote out the old and lets put in new blood and try to stop this spend and tax commission. Vote out the bums!
"Why would you hire someone who has been fired from same position
because of political reasons. "
Augusta has such a terrible reputation for its governmental antics- and it's well-earned- that they don't get the cream of the crop, you know?
Besides, they figured he'd fit right in.
Why can't we hire local folks? We are the second largest City in the State of Ga. We need to hire someone that is going to be taxing themselves and their families and friends, that way they have a vested interest in keeping taxes within check. I would hope the Commission sends this back to the Board with a directive to hire local.
The same goes for the School Board Superintendent.
It didn't take long for the naysayers to come out! Don't hurt yourself jumping to conclusions: "political reasons" might mean that he was fired by politicians who were angry that he wanted to do the "right thing".
Corgimom, please expand your horizons. Augusta's terrible reputation exists mainly in Augusta. Look at any mid-size or big city and the nasty politics will come out. Even Savannah and Charleston have skeletons in the closet. The Chronicle sells papers by talking up the bad stuff.
Hephzibah: this job requires a list of qualifications longer than your arm. Do you want a local, under-qualified good-old-boy who will take care of his friends and family at the expense of others? Pardon me: that is a corgimom-like assumption on my part. Someone from outside might do just fine without any local hindrances.
They are looking for someone they can point at and say "we need more revenue, increase property values". I want them to hire someone who can read sales figures, to include a count on how many people cannot sell their houses, and conclude that NOBODY'S PROPERTY VALUES IN RICHMOND COUNTY HAVE GONE UP SINCE 2007 AND NOBODY'S REBUILD COST HAVE GONE UP EITHER. Contractors are out of work and building material costs are level or down. Any property value increases in since 2007 are trumped up by tax assessor's office personnel responding to the "we need more revenue" pressures. That's why they would hire a chief appraiser who has been weakened by a previous firing. So they can dictate to him when it's time to artificially raise property values. Just put this in the same barrel of crooked fish hooks as them rezoning 7000 acres of property in south Richmond county to residential, raising the taxes, and now pushing a plan that says they are going to "limit density" of residences. So now we are paying taxes on residential land but they don't want us to be able to put a residential development on it. Not only do we need to clean house on the commission and replace the administrator, we also need to clean house at the Board of Assessors, the Tax Assessor's office, and Planning and Zoning. They all think their duty is to rob the property owner for maximum taxes while limiting services and development. Steal more and more taxes from south Richmond county residents but spend all of the tax money and development north of Spirit Creek. It's the same policy that has been happening since Consolidation. South Richmond residents are first up when it comes to property value increases but have not received one damned thing in the way of service or development since Consolidation.......except their overpriced $300 a year garbage collection they rammed down our throats and a kiss, a pat on the butt, and a promise of a development plan when they rezoned all of our land to residential and raised our taxes 10 years ago. I am glad Jimmy Smith is out this year and I hope we can find a candidate who owns some of this high dollar land out here who is paying residential taxes on weeds and scrub trees while the county backs a plan to "limit the density" in this area. The best plan for limiting the density in this county is to keep our current commission, tax assessor, and planning and zoning people in place. That alone is the biggest thing going to "limit the density" of people in this county. They don't need a consultant's plan to do that. They have been doing that since Consolidation.
Dickworth1, there is more to Ross' termination in Monroe County than is printed here. According to The Telegraph, Ross says he doesn't know why he was fired and the board of assesors isn't commenting on a personnel issue. Read it for yourself at http://www.macon.com/2010/04/08/1086811/ross-out-as-chief-appraiser.html. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions one way or the other about this guy. Because nobody will say why he was fired, Ross could have been doing a good job (too good for some folks), or he could have been the worst chief appraiser ever. No one will know until someone from Monroe County starts talking or until Ross is judged fairly after a significant evaluation period, and not by his responses to questions on his first day on the job in Richmond County.
"Augusta's terrible reputation exists mainly in Augusta."
I strongly disagree with you, and so do many others. Augusta's governmental problems are well-known all over the state of Georgia and even outside of the state.
My opinion corroborates with what has been discussed many times, over many years, in the Augusta Chronicle, and among many civic leaders, both publically and privately.
Educate yourself. Find out what leaders say about Augusta's government in Columbia and Atlanta.
Guess you weren't around before consolidation and in the years following.
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