How much will taxes increase in Oconee County?

This article might not answer that hot button issue, but this is about the man who has been selected to be the new tax man here in Watkinsville:

Board chooses likely appointee for chief tax appraiser position
Oconee County
By Merritt Melancon | juliana.melancon@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 12:24 AM on Wednesday, May 24, 2006
WATKINSVILLE - The Oconee County Board of Assessors has chosen former Greene County Chief Tax Assessor Allen Skinner as the likely appointee to fill the vacant chief tax appraiser's post.

Todd Paschal, the county's long-time chief tax appraiser, resigned from the post in March to take a higher paying job as chief tax appraiser in Morgan County.

Assessors Chairman James Miller said Skinner's depth of experience as both a county tax assessor and in the real estate business set him apart from the three other candidates the board interviewed for the position.

After graduating from the University of Georgia with a bachelor's degree in business administration in real estate, Skinner worked for the Athens-Clarke County Tax Assessors' office for 15 years before taking the job as Greene County's chief appraiser in 2001. In 2004, he left Greene County to work for a private insurance company in Atlanta.

Skinner's currently working as property manager and Realtor at Realty Executives Purvis Realty in Bogart.

His appointment as Oconee County's chief appraiser won't be final until the Board of Assessors approves it at a June 1 meeting and the Oconee County Commission approves it at its June 6 meeting.

Skinner said his decision to leave the Greene County tax assessors' office in 2004 was prompted by the number of residents appealing their county-calculated property values and the stress that entailed.

"I feel like Oconee County is in a much better situation that Greene County was," Skinner said. "Todd Paschal and his office did a much better job maintaining the real estate values here than was done in Greene County. Plus, I'd be working just a mile from my house."

When Oconee County officials started the search for a new chief tax appraiser in March, Commission Chairman Melvin Davis said the county would have to increase Paschal's $58,800 salary to attract a quality candidate. At the time, Madison County officials also were searching for a chief appraiser, where a $60,000 base salary had been set.

Skinner said salary negotiations between he and county officials continue, but declined to comment on any offers they had made him.

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