Clayton County's chief appraiser said Friday he's bracing for a "challenging" year fraught with confusion and more appeals once homeowners and businesses get their just-mailed property valuation notices.
More than 90,000 property assessment bills were mailed Friday. Under a new state law, property owners will get an estimated tax bill along with their 2011 assessment notice. This year's assessment notice includes the fair market value for ad valorem taxation, last year's value, and an estimated tax bill using last year's millage rate.
This year's millage rate won't be set for another few months.
"They're going to get a snapshot of a tax bill early on," said Rodney McDaniel, chief appraiser for the Clayton County Board of Assessors. "We recognize there's going to be a great deal of confusion because of the estimated tax amount that will be on the notice. In the past, we weren't required to include the tax bill on our notices."
In some instances, it will be the first assessment for many homeowners in a while since the county assessor had been required to send notices only to those who've seen a change in their valuation.
On top of helping people sort through their 2011 assessment and estimated property tax, McDaniel said his office is gearing up for what's likely to be a "challenging year" from homeowners, property owners and businesses wanting to contest their notices.
Like many other counties, Clayton has been dealing with declining property values. McDaniel's office already has reduced values on more than 64,000 residential parcels in 2011.
"We're looking at an 8 percent reduction [in residential property values in Clayton County] on top of the 22 percent reduction in 2010," McDaniel said. Even with those adjustments, he said he expects the number of appeals this year to surpass the 6,000 appeals his office handled each year during the past two years. Actual tax bills will be mailed out by the tax commissioner's office later this year.
Anyone with questions regarding their valuation should contact the Assessor's Office between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the Historic Courthouse in Jonesboro or call 770-477-3285. This year's deadline to appeal is June 13.
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