Jackson Free Press

Hinds County is just now charging Jackson Mayor Frank Melton taxes due on a nearly 10-year-old, 60-foot-by-40-foot, two-story addition to his home.

Melton first acknowledged the tax increase on his home during a recent interview with Jackson Free Press Editor Donna Ladd: "I've paid $5,000 or $6,000 in (property) taxes (on 2 Carter's Grove). Last year, they sent me a bill for $10,000. I challenged it; I said, ‘This is not right.' And they cleaned it up, and I paid over $6,000 in taxes last year. This year, they sent me a bill for $12,000."

The 2007 "true" value of Melton's property amounts to $352,820, with an assessed value of $35,282. Total taxes on parcel 572-190 for 2007 were $6,073.44. But the 2008 estimate jumped to a true value of $507,530, with an assessed value of $76,130. The net amount Hinds County now demands from Melton is $13,228.11, which includes a late payment penalty of $259.37. Melton's total 2008 taxes, prior to penalties, amounts to $12,968.74.

The Jackson Free Press broke the story of Melton's untaxed home addition last year, with a records search on parcel 572-190 revealing a brick-on-wood home containing a 56-foot-by-42-foot basement, a 56-foot-by-56-foot first floor and a 47-foot-by-36-foot second floor. Google Earth reports a different scheme, however, with an aerial photograph of the same house showing a predominate addition on the eastern side of the complex that nearly doubles the size of the building. The addition contains an enclosed, heated swimming pool on the ground floor, as well as a massive upstairs bedroom and private theater facility that Melton claims cost him "half a million dollars" to build.

Homeowners who add square footage to their house must file a construction permit with the city, which then forwards the information to the county (which, in turn, adjusts the cost of the revamped home to reflect any additions). Melton did not report the costly home addition to the city of Jackson's permit division when it was likely constructed in 2001, however.

Hinds County Tax Appraiser Benny Keys told the Jackson Free Press last June that the county had suspected a 60-foot-by-40-foot home addition had been added in 2001, after Melton filed a permit with the city for electrical and air-conditioning renovation at 2 Carters Grove, but the county could not get employees through Melton's gate to confirm the addition.

"Trying to get out there and get in stopped us from confirming the addition," Keys said.

Keys would not confirm that the 2008 increase was due to a new assessment, although the 2008 record notes the addition of the pool. Employees said updated information containing the new square footage is not public information.

Melton did not acknowledge the doubling of his property taxes this year as stemming from the previously unreported home addition, but said the extra cost is instead due to a late payment.

"The explanation we're getting from (the county) is, ‘He's a year behind on his taxes.' ... I went across the street and paid the taxes," Melton said. "I paid them directly to the tax collector (Eddie Fair), who is running for mayor."

Hinds County Tax Collector Eddie Fair told the Jackson Free Press that he does not set home values (the figures are actually devised by the Hinds County tax assessor's office). He could not account for Melton's claim to have paid him personally in cash, and added that the county had sold off Melton's 2007 derelict tax bill to a creditor who then paid the county's 2007 bill on Melton's property.

The county's charge of $13,228.11, Fair said, only reflects the year 2008.