Jasper County lawsuit piques supervisors' interest
Feb. 16—Lauderdale County supervisors are watching carefully as an ad valorem tax lawsuit involving Jasper County officials brings the potential for thousands in new tax revenue.
In a work session Thursday, Deputy Tax Assessor Whitney Hodges said the suit centers around a 2003 law that provided a 10-year ad valorem tax exemption for broadband internet equipment. Unfortunately, she said, lawmakers were vague in their definition of broadband, and the wire-based technology of 2003 is not comparable to what exists now.
"In 2003, everybody had a landline," she said.
The law, which is Mississippi Code of 1972 section 57-87-7, defines exempted equipment as, "any equipment capable of being used for or in connection with the transmission of information at a rate, prior to taking into account the effects of any signal degradation, that is not less than 384 kilobits per second in at least one direction."
Telecom companies have seized on the vague wording to exempt much of their equipment on cellular and broadcast towers throughout the state, Hodges said. The exemptions can be hard to challenge as tax assessors often don't have the expertise needed to know what exactly the equipment on the towers does, she said.
Hodges said her office has been communicating with a company called Cell Tower Solutions that is able to provide the expertise needed to understand what is taxable and what is not. The company will prepare a report of the equipment on the telecom towers and how much of it is truly exempt under the state's broadband law.
An initial assessment from two years ago, Hodges said, showed Lauderdale County isn't collecting what it should.
"If you look at what we're assessing it for, it's roughly 30% of what is on those towers," she said.
Jasper County previously worked with Cell Tower Solutions, and, in 2022, Jasper County Tax Assessor Tim McRee issued his assessment of the telecom companies' equipment that eliminated several exemptions.
In court filings, McRee said some of the equipment the telecom companies requested to have exempted does not meet the requirements under the broadband exemption law.
Cellular South, AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Third Coast all appealed to the Jasper County Board of Supervisors which upheld the Tax Assessor's findings. The telecom companies then filed lawsuits which are set to be heard by the state Supreme Court later this year.
As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments, Rep. Mark Tullos, R-Raleigh, whose district includes parts of Jasper and Smith counties, has introduced legislation to revisit the 2003 law with an updated definition of the exempted equipment.
Rep. Troy Smith, R-Enterprise, has also signed on as an author of the bill. Smith's district also includes portions of Jasper County in addition to parts of Clarke and Newton counties.
House Bill 618 aligns the state's broadband definition with that of the Federal Communications Commission, which is currently set at 25 megabits per second download and three megabits per second upload. The bill also specifies that the exemption applies only to fiber, cable, DSL or fixed wireless access internet. For companies which supply cellular service and fixed wireless access, only the FWA equipment is eligible.
The legislation has been referred to the House Public Utilities Committee.
Hodges told the board two other counties have already contracted with Cell Tower Solutions to assess their towers ahead of the lawsuit resolution. The service is not cheap, she said, but the potential benefit to the county is more than enough to cover the cost.
Supervisor Josh Todd said the Board of Supervisors will decide if it should move forward with an assessment now or wait for the lawsuits and Legislature to settle before taking action.
Contact Thomas Howard at thoward@themeridianstar.com
