Tax office to reopen after flooding
♦ The Floyd County Historic Courthouse is slated for restoration with SPLOST funds.
The Floyd County tax office will reopen Thursday following a major roofing membrane failure that led to flooding on several floors of the Historic County Courthouse.
“There were several spots where the rain came in and it really got wet up on the second floor, in the tax assessor’s office,” Tax Commissioner Kevin Payne said Wednesday of the building at 4 Government Plaza.
“There were some wet areas and standing water in the tag office, but they got in there pretty quick and got it cleaned up.”
Payne said the office closure on Wednesday will be treated as a holiday and no late fees or penalties will be charged. Property taxes aren’t due until Nov. 15. Vehicle tags must be renewed before your birthday.
“You can pay online, but if they had a birthday and need to come in Thursday, we’ll waive the fee,” he said.
Payne said he was preparing to return from the Constitutional Officers Association of Georgia fall training conference in Savannah when he got a call about the situation from County Manager Jamie Mccord.
The roofing membrane — thin protective sheeting that prevents leaks — failed due to the recent extreme high temperatures. Payne said Mccord told him the roof has been patched and would be replaced soon.
“They were planning on a new roof as part of the SPLOST project. I guess that sped up the process,” Payne said.
The $63.8 million 2017 special purpose, local option sales tax package contains a $5 million earmark to restore the historic courthouse. The five-year collection just started in April and Mccord is scheduling projects as funding becomes available.
County commissioners have set the jail medical wing as their top priority. Payne said work on the courthouse is not an immediate need.
“We still have some time on that,” he said. “I think we probably could have continued (with business Wednesday), but we made the decision to just shut it down and let them do what they need to do.”
There’s been no decision on when the courthouse project will be scheduled. Commissioners are waiting for a space-needs assessment to be completed before deciding which facilities to target next.
Payne said the restoration will involve major construction and likely require relocation of his offices while it’s underway. It makes sense to defer the project until the board determines their permanent home, he said.
“Our building is not really user-friendly,” Payne said. “It’s not that easy to get into anyway, so they’ll probably use the historic courthouse for some other offices that don’t have as much foot-traffic, and find a place where we can serve our customers better.”