Motivated by tearful phone calls from residents upset with the hefty increase in their property tax bills, Fairhope Mayor Tim Kant says he is reaching out locally and at the state level for help in alleviating the situation.

In a Wednesday morning press conference, Kant requested and Baldwin County Revenue Commissioner Phil Nix agreed to extend the filing deadline for property tax appeals. This extended timeframe expired yesterday at 5 p.m.

“We have soaring increases in insurance and fuel costs are skyrocketing,” Kant said. “I’m concerned about our residents and small businesses,” adding they couldn’t take much more in increased costs and remain in their homes or keep their businesses open.

Nix also agreed to another request from the mayor to have the Board of Equalization meet at the satellite courthouses in Fairhope and Foley to make it more convenient for residents to appeal their appraisals.

“I understand you are the messenger and are getting a bad rap for it,” Kant said of Nix.

Lastly, Kant asked Nix to “review all properties in Fairhope and make sure they have been assessed correctly and fairly before the tax bills are mailed in October.”

Nix replied, “We are reviewing Fairhope again as well as other communities to make sure we are applying fairly the guidelines that we must follow.”

Nix said his office had been getting a lot of phone calls, too.

“We have received about 6,000 appeals so far,” Nix said. “We are doing everything we can. I have been fighting this for three years. Hopefully we can do something after the election [in conjunction] with our elected officials.”

Kant said he would like to hold a meeting with county elected officials and the legislative delegation to explore ways to help residents with property tax increases and insurance coverage. He would like to hold this meeting promptly after the Oct. 16 election to fill the District 32 Senate seat vacated by Bradley Byrne.

“That would give the delegation time to get a bill together for presentation to the Legislature in February,” Kant said.

He also handed out copies of a letter he sent to Gov. Bob Riley stating that “Property taxes increased an average of 30 percent this year in Baldwin County. Fairhope alone will see an ad valorem increase of $4.3 million.”

Kant asked the governor to:

• Freeze the increase until next year and let residents pay the same rate they did last year, giving them time to budget for the increase.

• Consider a 10 to 15 percent cap on property tax increases this year, which would give elected officials time to meet, discuss and propose legislation to address these concerns.

Kant also stated in the letter that if no assistance is given (at the state level), he would (in September) propose to the Fairhope City Council a one-time millage reduction of 2 to 3 mills to help offset the added expense of ad valorem taxes for residents and businesses.

He added that he had spoken informally with the governor last Friday at a conference in Point Clear. He said both Riley and the lieutenant governor gave him verbal commitments to listen to any reasonable proposals.

Nix announced he would be placing a book in the satellite courthouses that contained the 6,000 sales used in preparing this year’s appraisals. The book, which is now at the Fairhope courthouse, lists the properties by parcel number. Nix said the book can be used as a reference tool by residents, who can look up the value of property sales for parcels around their property and see what the trends are.

He also said that a new law passed by the Legislature this year would give residents 30 days to file an appeal next year.