Fulton audit to see if commercial property owners pay their share of taxes
Fulton County’s top elected official said Wednesday he plans to find out whether the owners of high-end office buildings, hotels and data centers are being asked to pay their fair share in property taxes.
Commission Chair Robb Pitts unveiled a three-pronged strategy to scrutinize how luxury towers, mixed-use icons and server-packed data centers are assessed, a key measurement used to calculate property tax bills. Residents and media reports have raised concerns over the years about whether county officials routinely undervalue commercial properties, leaving homeowners to pick up an oversize tax burden.
“This concern I take seriously,” Pitts said in a news release. “If in fact certain properties are being undervalued, this would mean local governments and the school systems could be forgoing millions of dollars in tax revenue.”
High-end buildings, often called “trophy properties,” represent some of the most valuable pieces of real estate in metro Atlanta. Not only are they important employment centers, but the taxes they pay are critical to funding county services and schools.
Similarly, data centers are touted by Big Tech as multibillion-dollar investments with the potential to bolster tax rolls. Fulton County has some of Georgia’s largest existing data centers, while the rest of Georgia is preparing for a wave of even-larger data center campuses to come online in the coming years.
Those tax benefits, however, only come to fruition if county officials properly assess these buildings and developments for what they’re worth, critics contend.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News in 2018 published a joint investigation that found commercial properties were routinely being sold for significantly more than their government-assigned value.
The news outlets analyzed 264 multimillion-dollar commercial property sales from 2015 to 2018 and found about two-thirds sold for at least 50% more than the county said they were worth that same year. Of those, 119 properties sold for more than double their assessed value.
That finding was bolstered by a 2023 study by Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy, which found Atlanta and Fulton County are missing out on $290 million each year because of undervalued commercial properties. Former Invest Atlanta board member Julian Bene argues the figure could be even higher, saying the county would be “more equitable and better-resourced” if commercial property values were scrutinized and readjusted.
Examples include 725 Ponce, a Beltline adjacent office tower that sold for $300 million in 2021 and is now appraised for only $130 million; and Midtown’s 1180 Peachtree tower, which sold for $465 million in 2022 but is appraised at $187 million.
The office of Fulton Chief Appraiser Roderick Conley did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Conley said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in January that the county’s commercial assessments “align with standard mass appraisal established by the state and were found to be in compliance based on the state’s 2024 sales ratio study.”
The Georgia Department of Revenue analyzes county digests each year and has graded Fulton’s with high marks, Pitts said, which he said doesn’t seem to align with the number of private market sales that far exceed their assessed values. His strategy involves stress-testing the system.
He’s tapping an outside firm to audit the county’s valuation of trophy properties. He also said the county will consult outside counsel with expertise in commercial real estate when high-value commercial property owners appeal their assessments.
He also called on the state Legislature to make changes that would allow the Fulton County Board of Assessors, the government entity in charge of property values, to “consider additional factors” when evaluating properties. He said that should include the “capital costs of projects” alongside “limiting appeals for properties currently receiving tax abatements from development authorities.”
“Getting this study done asap and making sure we are evaluating commercial properties correctly is essential to keeping our millage rate flat, property taxes low and still providing the core services taxpayers expect,” Pitts said.
Fulton issued a request for proposals to find commercial appraisal service providers. Responses are due Thursday.
“The third-party valuation expert and outside legal resources that these leaders are arranging should help fix under-appraisals,” Bene said.
About the Author
Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
