Property owners stunned by their tax assessments will be getting some additional rights under a bill awaiting the governor’s signature. House Bill 202 gives property owners appealing their assessments the right to interview county employees involved in assessments, to tape-record appeal proceedings and to pay lower court fees if they take their appeal to superior court.

One benefit may have been unintended. Wording in the bill should allow property owners to skip over their county board of assessment for appeals and get a quicker response, according to an investor who has studied the provisions.

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With the closure of the labor and delivery unit in St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia, expectant mothers will instead be directed to deliver at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens, about 45 miles away.  (Photo Illustration / Getty Images)

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Julian Conley listens during opening statements in his trial at Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. The 25-year-old is accused of fatally shooting 8-year-old Secoriea Turner in July 2020. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

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