Challenges to property values in metro Atlanta soar

In a normal year, the five major counties ringing Atlanta would generate fewer than 9,000 property tax returns from owners contesting tax values and seeking to pay less.

This is not a normal year.

The deadline to file in Gwinnett and DeKalb passed March 2 with more than 22,000 filed in just those two counties. Clayton, Fulton and Cobb have another 10,000 pending, but filings there are expected to jump over the next two weeks as their April 1 deadlines approach.

The crush of business surprised tax officials even though they were expecting heavy filings from owners who are contending their properties have lost value in the deepening recession.

“This is the first time in 30 years I’ve seen anything like this,” said Steve Pruitt, chief appraiser for Gwinnett.

His county typically gets about 1,000 returns a year. This year Gwinnett has 14,376, with the most from Gwinnett homeowners filing 12,451 requests for lower tax appraisals. The returns seek an average reduction of 25 percent.

Gwinnett’s gotten another 1,925 from business owners who are seeking an average assessment cut of 32 percent.

Those numbers put 5 percent of Gwinnett’s residential parcels and 14 percent of its commercial ones in dispute and promise substantial reductions in the amount of taxes the county will collect.

Pruitt said he’s still trying to understand what that means for the county’s tax digest and for the state of the economy in Gwinnett. He said he won’t be sure for at least six weeks. Pruitt is making a presentation to county commissioners Tuesday to update them on what he knows so far.

“Everybody wants information,” Pruitt said. “I don’t have it right now. I don’t know.”

Returns are a little-known part of Georgia’s complex property tax system.

Georgia law gives property owners, depending on where they reside, until either March 1 or April 1 to file a return. The document allows property owners to contest the value placed on their property the preceding year by stating what they believe their property value was as of Jan. 1.

Over the past decade, values have climbed year over year. So returns were rarely an issue for assessors.

However, this year the avalanche in returns gives a glimpse into what home and business owners feel values have fallen during the real estate crisis. Returns also give a warning to local government officials how much less they might collect this fall.

“This just puts more pressure on what’s already going to be a tough year,” said Jim Glass, Atlanta’s chief financial officer.

DeKalb’s return period ended with Gwinnett’s. The county got 8,125, more than four times the normal number.

Hank Ruffin, interim chief appraiser, said his crews were still working on entering all the data so they can generate detailed reports.

Officials in Fulton, Clayton and Cobb all close out their return periods on April 1. All three report already receiving more returns so far than they get in a normal year and expect filings to pick up dramatically over the next two weeks.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of returns,” said Rodney McDaniel, chief appraiser for Clayton. “They are skyrocketing this year. We all know why.”

The returns will force tax officials to wrestle with some weighty questions as they try to set their taxable values over the next six weeks.

They are beginning to look at how to count foreclosures and bank-owned sales, which are normally not counted against tax values. And, since state law requires uniformity — like properties having like values — tax assessors who lower values for some homes or business have to resolve whether they will lower values for a much broader area.

“What we are trying to do is revalue the entire neighborhood,” Pruitt said.

Whatever values are set, in turn, will be used by local governments to set taxes. And lower tax appraisals could force many governments to consider raising rates during a recession just to avoid losing money.

How the process works

Georgia law gives homeowners the chance to contest their taxable value in most counties up until April 1 by filing a property tax return. The return allows a property owner to suggest a value as of Jan. 1. Assessors can accept or reject the value. If they reject, the assessors would notify the owner of the county’s value. That notice could be appealed by homeowners and would follow the normal course.

Many counties have instructions and forms for filing returns on their respective Web sites. Others can be found by calling the property owner’s local assessing office:

FULTON: http://www.fultonassessor.org/ Phone: 404-612-6440 phone

DEKALB: https://dklbweb.dekalbga.org/TaxAssessor/default.asp Phone: 404-371-0841

GWINNETT: http://www.gwinnettcounty.com/cgi-bin/gwincty/egov/ep/gcbrowse.do?channelId=-536881973&pageTypeId=536880236 Phone: 770.822.7200

CLAYTON: http://www.co.clayton.ga.us/tax_assessor/index.htm Office: 770-477-3285 Fax 770-477-4566

COBB: http://www.cobbassessor.org/Main/Home.aspx Phone: 770-528-3100