Haralson County property owners have recently received property assessment notices for the 2023 tax year. The notices have prompted questions that we might not think to ask until faced with new property assessments. Here are a few brief answers to some common questions:
1. The Haralson County Tax Assessor has the responsibility of appraising and assessing Haralson County properties. The appraisal is 100% of a property’s value, and the assessment is the 40% of the property’s value that is taxable.
2. An increase in one’s property assessment does not have to mean an increase in property taxes. The taxes listed on the assessment notices are simply examples of using the new assessment values with last year’s millage rates. Any taxing entity has both the opportunity and the responsibility of rolling back a millage rate to give taxpayers the benefit of an increased tax digest.
In Bremen we set a budget based on the coming year’s projected needs. The city receives the total tax digest from the county which is a total of all property appraisals in the city. The total city budget is divided by the total Bremen tax digest thus yielding the city millage rate. The millage rate is then applied to each property value to determine the city property tax.
An increased tax digest for us for the last fifteen years has produced lower millage rates each year. Our millage has been reduced over 23% in the last fifteen years, from 7.114 in 2008 to 5.47 in 2022.
Historically other taxing jurisdictions do not reduce or roll back a millage rate in response to a tax digest increase. When a millage rate remains the same for an increased digest, it is an inherent tax increase in tax dollars paid.
In the coming weeks each tax jurisdiction (county, city and school) will independently determine their millage rate which will determine the tax dollars paid by the property owners. I can project that the Bremen Haralson County millage rate will be lower than last year, thus leaving money in the hands of the taxpayers.
3. Property owners can appeal property assessments. You must do so in writing to the Tax Assessors office no later than 45 days after the date of the assessment notice. Contact the County Board of Assessors at 770-646-2022.
For a long time my personal concerns about property tax appraisals have included lack of consistency, comparable properties not having comparable assessments and lack of information supporting the increased values for some properties. Also, the selling price of a piece of property is the fair market value of the property. There are properties that are assessed for less than the price for which they were sold.
Our City Team hopes that this information helps everyone to understand that the tax assessment process is one step in the taxing of a property. This phase is clearly within the responsibility of the county’s assessment officials, and property owners should communicate with that staff accordingly. The second and equally important phase of the taxing process will be the determination or levy of the millage rate. Each taxing jurisdiction, (county, city and school) will establish their millage rates to calculate taxes from each property owner. Responsibility is within each entity independent of one another.
We would be glad to try to answer any of your questions. Please call us. - Mayor Sewell
