UPDATE: Fulton County Board of Assessors have emerged from a closed session to announce they do not think they have the legal authority to rescind property value assessments.
To read more about what they are doing in response to complaints of high assessments, click here to read the full story, only on myAJC.com.
ORIGINAL REPORT: Members of the Fulton County Board of Assessors have moved into closed session at a meeting to decide if they should rescind property value assessments that dozens of residents said cannot be correct because they rose so dramatically over last year.
More than 100 people attended the meeting of the assessors, with more than two dozen – including a state senator, the mayor of Milton and a member of Atlanta’s city council – appealing to the assessors about high values.
In letters to the Board of Assessors, the cities of Milton, Johns Creek and Atlanta requested the group rescind the assessments. Fulton County’s board of commissioners has done so as well.
The Board of Education at Atlanta Public Schools has asked the county not to rescind the assessments. Courtney English, the chair of the school said he hopes for a compromise that allows residents to afford their tax bills, while still providing enough revenue for the needs of students.
Dwight Robinson, the chief appraiser, said some neighborhoods in East Point, Milton and College Park will be revalued after a review of areas that saw increases on 50 percent or more. He could not say how many neighborhoods were affected be the revaluation.
Additionally, he said, residents whose valuations should have been frozen because of appeals, but who received an increase, will be reverted to their original values. That change affects about 1,800 people.
“This is not political theater,” Fulton County Commission Vice Chairman Bob Ellis said. “This is grave and this is real.”
Fulton County commissioners pleaded with the Board of Assessors last week to rescind the assessments, saying that the huge jump in values for many residents would represent a hardship when tax bills came.
They asked that the board use the same valuations it did in 2016 so property taxes this year wouldn’t increase for residents.
Nearly a quarter of the 318,000 residential parcels in Fulton had assessments that were up 50 percent or more; half were up by at least 20 percent.
The spikes come after Fulton for years failed to keep up with rising property values, Robinson said previously.
In order to catch up with the market, the board had to increase values dramatically, he said.
“This is like shell-shock,” said Edith Ladipo, who lives in Adams Park. “We had no notice. It’s putting a big burden on senior citizens.
Last week, members of the Board of Assessors said the new values — high though they may be — were in line with an improved market.
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