TIFTON — The Tift County Board of Assessors will conduct a revaluation of rural land for the 2009 tax digest and will begin the process as soon as county commissioners approve the funding, which was included in the tax assessor’s 2008-2009 budget.

Tift County Tax Assessor Teresa Lupo told members of the Tift County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night during workshop session that both small and large tracts of rural land were selling for more than the previously appraised value on the land.

Lupo said law requires that counties maintain fair market value on land and that the revaluation requested was necessary to maintain an acceptable level of assessment to avoid penalties.

Lupo presented commissioners with several examples of property that sold for substantially more than the county’s value assessed on the land. In one case, 151.7 acres located on Red Oak Road was sold for $875,000 and the county had it valued at $295,515. In another case, 28.16 acres located on Ty Ty-Sparks Road sold for $117,453 and the county had it valued at $71,368.

The last time rural land was revaluated, Lupo said, was in 2003.

“We want to keep values up to date and do step upgrades,” Lupo said.

Lupo said that conducting the revaluation now would be better than waiting and shocking taxpayers with a steep increase in the values on their land.

When Commissioner Mike Jones asked whether the current economic downturn would affect values, Lupo said that she still believed land values would show an increase from 2003 to 2007.

“We’re seeing houses not selling, but they aren’t declining in value as rapidly as in other areas,” Lupo said.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Dale Sumner, a local realtor, asked commissioners to consider revising the sign ordinance to allow one generic directional real estate sign to be placed at intersections near street signs or light poles.

“We are having big problems getting adequate exposure for some of our listings,” Sumner said.

Sumner said that the generic signs could be placed near a street sign or a light pole and used by all real estate agents to offer directions to property for sale on particular streets, thus reducing the number of signs required.

Also in the public comment portion of the meeting, Fredrick Slade and Ernest Dawson asked commissioners to consider allowing a group of men, including members of Men of Accomplishment, to use the Matt Wilson Gym for an all-day men’s basketball tournament on Sept. 20. Slade and Dawson told commissioners that proceeds from the tournament would benefit James Wilson, a man who is ill and has mounting medical expenses.

The men told commissioners that two men who live in Tifton but work as law enforcement officers in Ashburn had volunteered their time to serve as security during the entire length of the tournament. They also said that men from Men of Accomplishment had also volunteered their time to help with the event. County Manager Jim Carter said that the county ordinances specify that security agents at such events be P.O.S.T. certified and the two law enforcement officers' credentials met that requirement.

Commissioners will vote on issues during their regular monthly meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday.