By Stan Welch
Approximately fifty property owners who thought they resided in Anderson County will receive a letter from the Pickens County attorney Ken Roper later this week. Those letters will inform the property owners that due to technological improvements in the location of the Anderson County/Pickens County line, the owners in question now live in Pickens county and will be taxed accordingly beginning with the September tax bills.
While the location of the county line is established by state law, the locations of the parcels of land involved has been recently clarified by the GIS department of the county. The fifty parcels noted were found to exist predominantly inside Pickens County rather than Anderson. Some rest solely in Pickens County.
Attorney Roper, in the letter which went out on July 18, informed the property owners that, if the property in question was the primary residence, it might be necessary for the owners to change information on their driver’s license and automobile registration, as well as changing their voter registration. He also informed the owners of the assessment process in the county and their right to appeal the assessment.
According to the letter, the affected school districts are coordinating their efforts to insure that all students will be allowed to continue to attend the schools that they currently attend. Still, many of those impacted are less than happy about the disruption, according to District Six Anderson County Councilman Ken Waters.
“The folks I’ve heard from are pretty upset about this whole situation, and I can understand why. If somebody moves to certain place, there are usually good reasons for it. And if these folks want to be in Pickens county, that’s fine. But those who want to live in Anderson county should be able to do that too. We will do whatever we can to help them get their wish. County attorney Leon Harmon has been looking at some possible courses of action. One way might be for those who prefer Anderson county to go to the Pickens council and ask to be allowed to annex into Anderson county. To me, it’s not about tax revenues, it’s about people being able to live where they want.”
