§ 27-33-33. Duties of tax assessor; assessor authorized to amend homestead exemption applications under certain circumstances
The county tax assessor shall perform such duties as are generally required by him by this article and with respect to exempt homesteads, and the application therefor, and his duties are specifically defined as follows:
He shall, in each year the land roll is made, require that all lands and buildings which have been or are claimed for homestead exemption be separately assessed on the land roll; and he shall, in the case of homestead lands not already separately assessed on the land roll, prepare proper notice to the board of supervisors requesting that the land assessment roll be changed so that all homestead property shall be separately assessed; and in the case of newly constructed dwellings, he shall carefully inspect the same and recommend to the board the value at which such dwellings should be assessed; and when rural lands are divided and a part included in the homestead exemption, he shall assess the respective tracts at the value used for cultivable lands and for uncultivable lands, and fairly assess homesteads and nonhomesteads at the same proportion to true value.
He shall keep available a supply of the prescribed blank homestead exemption applications, and he shall require each applicant to properly execute the application in entire conformity with the requirements of Section 27-33-31.
He shall aid the applicant in executing the application.
He shall notify the applicant if an application for homestead exemption is incorrect or incomplete in any substantial particular, and require that it be properly and completely executed before accepting it for delivery to the clerk.
He shall, when an application is accepted by him, retain the original, the duplicate and the triplicate. He shall endorse “filed” on the quadruplicate with the date and his official signature and return it to the applicant as evidence of the application and that it was filed.
He shall promptly give to the board of supervisors any knowledge or information he may have, or any fact he may have knowledge of, bearing on the eligibility of the applying person or property and not revealed in the application; and note on the application any condition requiring special consideration.
He shall, on the first day of each month, deliver to the clerk of the board of supervisors all originals and duplicates of applications for homestead exemption received and accepted by him during the preceding month.
He shall attend all meetings of the board when any matter with respect to homestead exemptions is being considered by it and shall render such assistance and perform such services as the board may direct from time to time.
He shall, at least ten (10) days but not more than thirty (30) days prior to April 1 of each year, publish notice in a newspaper having general circulation in the county in which he serves as tax assessor informing persons who are receiving homestead exemption that the tax assessor must be notified if changes have occurred in the status of the homestead in the property description, ownership, use or occupancy since January 1 of the preceding year and that, in the event such persons are still eligible for homestead exemption, a new application for homestead exemption must be filed.
If the tax assessor discovers a change in ownership in a portion of the homestead property that may result in the homestead exemption being applied to ineligible property and the owner of the homestead property fails to file a new application during the preceding year as required by Section 27-33-31, the tax assessor may amend the application to reflect such change on or before June 1 of that roll year.
If parcel number changes occur due to reappraisal, mapping maintenance or updates, the tax assessor may amend the homestead application to reflect such changes on behalf of the owner of the homestead on or before June 1 of that roll year.
If a change in ownership occurs because of the death of an owner and the surviving spouse of the owner is still eligible for homestead exemption and not required to file a new application, the tax assessor may amend the application by removing the name of the deceased spouse and adding the surviving spouse’s birth date for the purpose of correcting the land roll and the supplemental roll.
Should eligible property on an initial or renewed application fail to be listed due to a clerical error, such application may be amended by the tax assessor on behalf of the applicant to list such eligible property prior to the last Monday in August.
Amendments made to applications under this subsection may be allowed by the board of supervisors and certified to the commission.
