Mississippi county officials quietly didn’t expect the governor’s tax study committee to help them with the local issues of property taxes, specifically homestead exemption.

That’s what they got.

The study committee made no recommendation on property taxes, except to propose the elimination of the homestead exemption as its applies to school taxes.

While the tax study committee recommended a diversion (1 percent) of sales taxes to the counties, few officials expect the Legislature to agree to it. Cities presently are returned 18.5 percent of sales taxes they collect.

“We were very pleased with the 1 percent ... to help basic county services. This will go a long way to help the counties hold down any property tax increase,” says an optimistic Joel Yelverton, assistant executive director of the Mississippi Association of Supervisors.

Aging baby boomers will soon impact the property tax bases of cities, counties and school districts.

Boomers are the 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964. The oldest of that generation are only three years away from full homestead exemption on their houses.

Under homestead exemption, the state encourages people to own homes by exempting the houses from some property taxes; the state reimburses the counties and cities for lost tax revenues.

Under state law, the maximum exemption for regular homeowners is $300. For homeowners 65 years of age or totally disabled, there is an exemption on the first $75,000 true value.

Mississippi law says county governments shall get refunds of $100 per applicant getting an exemption in county and school taxes — half of which goes to the schools. For cities, the reimbursement is $200 per qualified applicant.

County officials had hoped the tax study committee would recommend an increase in the reimbursement. It did not.

In 2008, the Legislature appropriated $83.9 million for homestead exemption reimbursement.

County officials thought they had made the case for some other funding mechanism for basic local services and special needs other than a continued reliance on property taxes.

“It is a sensitive issue with a lot of folks, especially the elderly and the disabled,” Yelverton said of property taxes and homestead exemption. “We understand that at the local level. Reimbursement is something we hope the Legislature will consider increasing in the future.”

Generally, counties reappraise every four years, with a handful of counties undergoing reappraisal every year.