Fulton assessor won’t get appraiser’s license back

Donald Johnson, one of the men who sets tax values on Fulton County properties, has lost a bid to regain his residential appraiser’s license. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled against him in his appeal of a Georgia Real Estate Appraisers Board decision last year.

Johnson, one of five members of the county’s Board of Assessors, argued that the state acted too harshly when it slapped him for overvaluing three quadruplexes and a townhouse, in areas of Atlanta rife with mortgage fraud, between 2005 and 2007. But McBurney ruled the board was justified, noting testimony that “every property Johnson appraised went into foreclosure, meaning that someone, somewhere lost money as a result.”