Homeowners rush to get assessments lowered

Property owners rushed to county tax offices around metro Atlanta on Monday to file paperwork showing the foreclosure crisis has cost them so much value that their taxes should be reduced.

The push to lower taxes with property tax returns threatens in coming months to reduce tax collections for already cash-strapped local governments across the state — or force local officials to raise property taxes during a deepening recession.

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Phil Skinner/pskinner@ajc.com

Tanaya Howard (right) plays with her 9-month-old son Victor while in a long line of people waiting to file property tax returns before the deadline Wednesday to request a lower tax value for 2009 at the Fulton County tax assessors office in Sandy Springs.

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Officials in Clayton and Fulton reported lines of filers crowding offices Monday ahead of the April 1 deadline, contending their properties had lost value during what many folks are calling a real estate depression. The deadline for Gwinnett and DeKalb counties passed March 2.

Property owners in most Georgia counties have until the close of business Wednesday to file their returns. They will also be accepted with an April 1 postmark.

“We’ve got lines at four locations,” said Burt Manning, chief appraiser for Fulton. “We’ve counted 5,276 through Friday but that doesn’t begin to get to where we are. They’ve been pretty much coming in, in double handfuls all day.”

Property tax returns are normally a little-used option under Georgia law for property owners who feel their properties are overassessed. By April 1 in most counties, residents can file a return stating what they feel the value is of their property. Assessors then must either approve that value or send a notice of denial. That notice starts an appeals process for property owners similar to what happens when properties are revalued by the assessors.

Clayton’s chief appraiser, Rodney McDaniel, reported about 3,800 returns had been filed through Friday, with more coming in all the time. Clayton normally gets just a few hundred. McDaniel said property owners were seeking anywhere from 10 to 70 percent off their current appraisals.

“We’ve been busy,” McDaniel said. “There’s been a line. We’ve been getting a steady flow and a lot of phone calls.”

Most counties get fewer than 2,000 in even the most active year.

This year, though, with values falling across metro Atlanta, interest in returns has soared.

The period to file passed nearly 30 days ago in Gwinnett and DeKalb, and both counties reported receiving record numbers. The 22,000 returns filed by residents of those two counties is about 10 times the amount that DeKalb and Gwinnett normally receive.

The line in Atlanta on Monday included Jon Bradway of Virginia Highlands, who filed a return on the home he bought last year. Bradway said the new construction had been listed for sale at $1.5 million and valued by the county for $1.1 million. Because the house was for sale for nearly two years, Bradway said he paid substantially less than that.

He said he requested about a 20 percent reduction.

“I’m saying the value shouldn’t be any more than I paid for it,” Bradway said.

The returns already filed in Gwinnett and DeKalb and now being filed in other counties could leave local jurisdictions short of cash this fall. Officials are already reporting impact fees, permitting fees, sales taxes and other revenues cut by the slumping economy.

And, many fear they may be forced to consider a property tax hike during a recession if taxable values fall significantly. The financial pressures on property taxes come at a time when local governments — struggling with shortfalls in sales taxes, property taxes and other revenues — are already being forced to use furloughs and cut services and staffs to make ends meet.

How to file

April 1 is the final day to file a property tax return and lower tax values for 2009. The deadline for 2009 has already passed for properties in Gwinnett and DeKalb counties.

Here’s who to contact or where you can go in Clayton, Cobb and Fulton:

Clayton County Board of Tax Assessors

Chief Appraiser: Rodney McDaniel

P.K. Dixon Annex 2

Second Floor

121 S. McDonough Street, Jonesboro, GA 30236

Office (770) 477-3285 Fax (770) 477-4566

www.co.clayton.ga.us/tax_assessor/index.htm

Cobb County Board of Tax Assessors

Phillip Y. Hogsed, Sr.

736 Whitlock Avenue, Suite 200

Marietta, GA 30064

Office(770)528-3100 Fax (770) 528-3118

e-mail: cobbtaxassessor@cobbcounty.org

www.cobbassessor.org/Main/Home.aspx

Fulton County Board of Assessors

Burt Manning, Chief Appraiser

141 Pryor Street, Suite 2052

Atlanta, GA 30303

(404) 612-6440 phone / (404) 224-0417 fax

www.fultonassessor.org/Main/home.aspx