This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

®eorge J. SEtterttarm
YVONNE LADNER Chief Deputy
Tax Assessor - Tax Collector HANCOCKCOUNTY Telephone 601 / 467-5727 BAY SAINT LOUIS, MISSISSIPPI 39520
EDWARD MURTAGH Chief Deputy
Pa<re 2
Minearl taxes rere supplemented by a dri linn; tax. on each oil well ;/ith the tax affixed on a deoth basis.
Personal Oroperty ta::es were changed to include all types of business with separate schedules for service stations and service station equipment.
Very little chanpe has been made in the personal property field in the past twenty five years excepting that Aircraft has n^w been added bo the list of taxable properties. iue dates have been changed "rom January 1st to extend thru I'larch Is1,. This -neans any equipment previously had to be domiciled in your County by January 1st but now cr n^ed to March	1st.
A recBJSft Amendment now makes it mandatory to assess	all	heavy	equipment on	a pro-
rata basis covering only the time u :der contract in your county.
Many chan es have taken place with land assessments in the oast thirty years.
It was not uncom-on to fi d so e acreage throughout the County assessed for as low as $1 to $1.50 per acre. The firfct real effort at equalization came in the early 1950's when all land was re-assessed for <$6.00 per acre. Several more changes took place in the 1960's with the assessments bei!.g updated to $10 per acre and in 1977 will be further updated to $15 within the Buffer 2one of NASA and -^20 outside the Zone; $15 per acre will also ao ly to marsh land.
Annual meetin -s with the State Tax Commission for a three day instruction period have been greatly improved. Today, quarterly sessions are available at the University level to better repare each	Assessor in	the	fifeld	of Appraising and
Assessing. The instruction periods are	in conjunction with a	Program with	the
University of Mississippi.
Assessments have increased during my time at the Courthouse from approximately six million to over 3^ million and will undoubtedly exceed 60 million by the