Board of Tax Assessors Approves 8,895 Assessment Notices

The Gilmer County Board of Tax Assessors, in its regularly scheduled meeting on May 27, 2009, approved sending out 8,895 tax assessment notices. The notices will go in the mail on Friday, May 29, 2009. However, unlike those that were mailed in 2008, virtually none will be increases due to market value changes. Of the 8,895 to be sent out, 4,068 (46%) will be decreases in value, 3,460 (39%) will contain no change and 1,367 (15%) are increases that resulted from new construction and parcel combinations. Many of the no change notices are the result of returns that were filed by property owners prior to April 1, 2009 and the Board decided that there should be no change in market value from the previous year (2008).

Based on the above figures, there should be nowhere near the number of appeals filed this year that were filed in 2008. Last year over 12,000 parcels were appealed. The Tax Assessors office and the Board of Equalization are still dealing with those appeals. The Tax Assessors office is trying to resolve all the appeals filed in 2008 prior to year end however Chief Appraiser, Dawn Pruett cautioned that due to owners rescheduling their Board of Equalization hearings that those appeals may actually run over into calendar year 2010.

During the meeting Ms. Pruett explained that it may be 2010 before the real impact of the foreclosures are felt on the fair market values (for tax purposes). This is due to the fact that the Tax Assessors Office can only take a foreclosure into consideration once it has been resold on the open market. One of the tests of Fair Market Value is an arms-length transaction conducted between a willing buyer and willing seller, neither being under duress. Thus, a foreclosure that happened in 2008 and resold in 2009 will not be considered until 2010 when assessments are done for 2009 tax purposes.