Douglas Home Values 37% Overvalued?

The 8-part series on property assessments published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from Dec.18-25 exposed many of the issues in determining the fair market value for tens of thousands of Georgia homes.

The AJC analyzed home values in 11 counties in the metro Atlanta area and found a range from 3 to 37 percent in overvalued properties. They reported, “Douglas County’s typical residential property is 37 percent too high at one end of the spectrum, while Cherokee County’s values are 3 percent overvalued at the other end.”

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In the Dec. 21, Sentinel, Douglas County Chief Appraiser Benny Waldrop denied the AJC charge that home values in Douglas are 37 percent higher than fair market value. His denial is questionable.

Waldrop has an important but tricky job. He is faced with the difficult task of implementing new laws enacted by legislators. While politicians want to keep property assessments high, there has been a realization by informed property owners that they may be paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars more in taxes than they should. This balancing act between maintaining higher assessments while the actual fair market value drops makes Waldrop’s job even more challenging.

Political considerations are not supposed to be a part of the assessment process. Government officials have legal authority to raise or lower the millage rate sufficient to operate government, regardless of the value of the digest.

Waldrop would have us believe that the methods used to determine values are so technical and sophisticated that non-experts cannot grasp the process. But he has admitted that property appraisal is more art than science. My personal experience with the appeals process was more like Ouija boards, Tarot cards and a roll of the dice. Their appraisal process has more to do with what the assessor “feels” the property is worth than what can be proven with any mathematical formula.

Property owners are not required to use the same methodology as the county to determine property value. Property owners can use factors such as market trends, desirability of property, social, economic and environmental factors to determine value.

Speak to members of the Board of Equalization (BOE) and they will tell you how often the Board of Assessors (BOA) comes to an appeal hearing with little or no evidence to prove the values it has asserted. The BOA often cherry picks what it calls “comparable properties” to justify higher values while ignoring properties that prove just the opposite. Regardless of the validity of the county’s case and even when the BOA lacks evidence, it forces property owners to jump through every hoop hoping they will stumble and not attend an appeal hearing and thereby losing the appeal.

At a recent Board of Commissioners work session I shared with them the experience of one property owner. At the appeal hearing, the BOE reduced the property value by half, based on neighborhood values. The Board of Assessors appealed the decision all the way to Superior Court. By doing so, the Board tied up a court room, a Superior Court judge, a 12-member jury, a county attorney, two employees and the property owner for 8 hours fighting over $150 in tax. The jury lowered the valuation and eventually, in a later appeal, the value was lowered to the owner’s original claim. The judge admonished the BOA that such cases should be handled in mediation… outside his courtroom.

What a ridiculous squandering of resources! Based on this one case, Mr. Waldrop’s complaint in the AJC that the appraisal department is understaffed doesn’t ring true. If the BOA is willing to fritter away their time and our tax dollars over a paltry $150, its budget seems adequate. The Board of Commissioners should exercise its authority and immediately fix the problem. The commissioners should end a costly and cumbersome process aimed at intimidating property owners.

One misconception is that the value set by the BOA is the actual fair market value. Just because your property was assessed at a high value does not mean you can sell it at that value. The market determines property value, not the value set by the BOA.

The system is broken and property owners, who pay the bulk of taxes which fund this government, deserve more respect than this farce. The solution is for property owners to be vigilant and do their own research and determine and declare their property value.

The Georgia Department of Revenue has appeal filing instructions at www.dor.ga.gov .

The collapse of the housing market has been devastation to both public and private sectors. Eventually, we will see some rebound in home values. Homeowners are willing to pay their fair share in taxes, but the key word here is fair.

With limited resources, the county should set priorities and stop chasing pennies on the floor while dollar bills are stacked on the table.

James Bell

Georgia Taxpayers Alliance, Inc.

gataxpayer@gmail.com