Special election called to complete Steven Kendrick's tax commissioner term

Augusta voters will select a candidate Nov. 8 to complete the term of former Richmond County Tax Commissioner Steven Kendrick, who resigned to run for mayor. He lost in the June 21 runoff to Garnett Johnson.

Richmond County Board of Elections voted Monday to call for the special election and set candidate qualifying for the week of Aug. 22-26.

What a tax commissioner does

The tax commissioner is the county's tax collector. It's a partisan, constitutional office under Georgia law and its primary role is collecting taxes on real estate, vehicles and business and personal property that are used to fund local government operations. The tax commissioner runs the county license plate tag office and can conduct sales of properties for which the taxes haven't been paid.

But the tax commissioner's office does not assign or review property values – that task goes to another office, the Richmond County Board of Assessors.

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The position of Richmond County tax commissioner pays approximately $150,000, and Kendrick's term expires at the end of 2024. The qualifying fee to run, based on the salary, is $3,022.

Sitting commissioner only candidate

So far the only announced candidate is Democrat Tederell "Chris" Johnson, Kendrick's chief deputy since 2012, who is the interim tax commissioner. Johnson confirmed his plans Tuesday.

Johnson has a bachelor's degree and retired from Savannah River Site to accept the deputy position. Johnson is chairman of the Augusta, Georgia Land Bank Authority and has served on the boards of Leadership Augusta, Project Impact, Greater Mt. Canaan Missionary Baptist Church and the Savannah River Site Diversity committee.

Kendrick moving on from tax office

On election night after losing his bid for mayor, Kendrick announced he won't seek a fifth term. "I am not going to be tax commissioner ever again," he said.

When Kendrick qualified to run for mayor March 9, state law removed him as tax commissioner. The next day, Probate Judge Harry James appointed Johnson as interim tax commissioner, then Johnson named Kendrick as his chief deputy and James administered oaths of office to both. The transition gained Johnson a city severance package worth nearly $70,000.

Kendrick, who held the office as a Democrat, confirmed Tuesday he will not run again. He said he is "not going to stay as chief deputy for long" and is "reviewing options now."

No party primary to be held

While the tax commissioner is a partisan position, there will be no party primary and candidates of all parties will face off in the November election.

Rachel Mack, an Augusta senior staff attorney who represents the elections board, said the November contest resembles the 2020 special Georgia election for U.S. Senate. Twenty candidates from five parties squared off, and the two top vote-getters, then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Sen. Raphael Warnock advanced to a runoff.

If no Richmond County tax commissioner candidate receives more than 50% of votes Nov. 8 to complete Kendrick's term, the top two finishers will advance to a Dec. 6 runoff.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Steven Kendrick's tax office replacement to be elected in November