Sumter County Tax Commissioner (Leah Watson): the county’s own 2025 Taxpayer Brochure carrying the $121,812 veteran rows

The county's own amounts. The Tax Commissioner's own Government Window site, sumtercountygatax.com, carries the county's 2025 Taxpayer Brochure, and its exemption section reads: "The Disabled Veteran Homestead Exemption is available to certain disabled veterans, un-remarried spouses or minor children in an amount equal to 121,812 in 2025 but adjusted annually by a certain index by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Such exemption amount is deducted from the 40% assessed value of the homestead property and applies to all ad valorem tax levies. Specific proof of disability from the Department of Veterans Affairs is required." And: "The Surviving Spouse of Member of Armed Forces Killed in Action Exemption is available to the un-remarried surviving spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who was killed in or who died as a result of any war or armed conflict engaged in by the United States. The surviving spouse must furnish appropriate documentation from the Department of Defense that spousal benefits are received as a result of the death of the Armed Forces member." The brochure also prints the Floating or Varying Homestead Exemption (62 or older, $30,000 or less household income, state and county levies but not school tax) and the assessment-appeal route. Where and who. Tax Commissioner Leah Watson ([email protected]), 500 W Lamar St, Ste. 120, Americus, GA 31709; mailing address P.O. Box 1044; phone (229) 928-4530, fax (229) 928-4533; "Monday - Friday 9:00AM - 5:00PM". The staff page seats Deputy Tax Commissioner and Director of Operations Christy M. Cobb and the tag agents. The site's biography page carries the predecessor Wilkie Smith's letter and his family's Sumter public-service history. The assessors. The county's Board of Tax Assessors page seats the current board - Darryl L. Hawkins, Betsy C. Hodges, Carlton G. Maye, Sr., Charles M. Oliver and Kate E. Ward - at 500 W. Lamar St., P.O. Box 1152, (229) 928-4514, and its FAQ answers "What property exemptions are available?". The qPublic record-search site (qpublic.net/ga/sumter) answers a Cloudflare-style block to plain fetch and was not read (the gap goes to docs/COUNTY-REVISIT.md). The 2026 window's governance record: the Americus Times-Recorder's March 18, 2026 report of the board's March 10 unanimous vote to petition the Superior Court for the removal of the remaining Board of Assessors members, citing the Department of Revenue's 2024 performance review - the county's exemption route now runs through that reconstituted board. The route. A veteran files with the Tax Assessor's office before the April 1 deadline and reads the county's own brochure; the State entries carry the statutes (O.C.G.A. 48-5-48 and 48-5-52.1) beside the brochure's printed amounts.