St. Marys "Tea Party" a 6:00 PM tonight.

Watch Dog Saint Marys, GA Reply » Report Abuse Judge it! #1 2 hrs ago For those of you who have not gone to camdencountymaps.com and determined what your new St. Marys tax assessment is going to be, be sure you have a change of under wear.You are going to be shocked into reality. I have been advised there is a meeting tonight at the English Pub on 40 in St. Marys across from Sam Pickrens. The meeting is to be at 6 p.m. The purpose is to show the tax payers what they have to do. If you don't care don't come. If you don't mind taxation without representation don't come. If you have more money than sense don't come.If you are tired of being screwed over by the tax and spend politicians and their hired tax assessors you should be there to organize. Remember TAD. That was a tax plan tanked. This can be the same if you care enough to have a TEA PARTY. This should be interesting. Update @ 7:22 PM: Your humble reporter has just returned from the meeting. It ran for about 55 minutes. It was attended by 50 people. As you no doubt knew, Doug Vaught was the MC. The featured presenters were attorneys Bert Guy and Jim Stein as well as local mortgage broker, Tom Cyphers. Also in attendance were Mayor Eskridge and Councilmen Bird and Johnson. Former Mayor and Mrs. Jerry Brandon were there. Sandy Feller was there - and much to my surprise, he not only did not put the event together but did not say a word. The gal who replaced Dave Smith was there for K-Bay as were Emily Goodson for the T&G and Gordon Jackson for the GTU. Some real estate investor who has helped raise rates by buying 48 properties in town was there. "Winston" somebody. Of course, Teddy Lockhart was there. As was Rosemary Rillo. Frank Saffold was there. So were the Doninis and Jay Lassiter. That Barbara somebody or other who publishes a magazine in town was there - naturally. Apparently, the organizer of this thing was Rindy (Mrs. Sidney) Howell. There was some good info passed out. If you have not filed for homestead exemption (regardless of your age) it is imperative that you do so NLT April 1st. I knew that. if you have filed already but have subsequently turned 62, you should call the tax assessors office and make damned sure they have picked up on that fact in order to insure that you get your $25,000 property tax exemption at 62 and older. Moreover, you need to check in with them again at age 65 to make sure that you are no longer billed for ANY taxes from the school board. I knew that. However, here is something I DID NOT KNOW. If you want to preserve your right to contest your next tax bill it is IMPERATIVE that you fill out and file a "Taxpayer's Return of Real Property" NLT April 1, 2009, and every year thereafter. This form is your opportunity to tell the tax assessors what YOU think your property is worth. Apparently, in past years, the county did not enforce the law requiring you to have filed this by April I. Now, they DO. I will scan a copy here in a minute. Hold it: way better yet, here is the site where you can go to type in the tax return, then print it and take it to Woodbine:

http://www.etax.dor.ga.gov/ptd/adm/forms/pt50r/index.aspx There will be another meeting of this group on next Monday, at 6:00 at the same place. It does in fact appear to be worth your time if you are a property owner. By the way, Mayor Eskridge stood up and said - as usual, in his barely audible voice - that it is his intention to introduce a city council resolution to apply the city's millage rate to the assesses valued that were extant in 2006. Interesting concept, but it sounds highly dubious in terms of legality. I'll believe it when I see it take effect.