State Rejects 2017 Fulton County Tax Digest

ATLANTA, GA -- Another wrinkle has been thrown into Fulton County's quest to resolve its property assessment crisis. The state Department of Revenue has rejected the county's 2017 tax digest, according to a letter from the state dated Oct. 25.

In the letter penned to Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand, the state said it can't approve the 2017 digest because it's based upon assessments that were either improperly issued, appear to be "deficient" and "taxpayer appeal rights from those assessments appear to have been truncated."

The 2017 notices, the state recalls, were mailed to property owners on May 19, and indicated an appeal deadline of July 3 -- a date that was later changed to July 10. As readers may well remember, Fulton County commissioners on June 21 approved a resolution requesting the Board of Assessors to roll back the digest to 2016 levels. The Board of Assessors complied, and the county released a second round of assessment notices on Aug. 4 and set an appeal deadline of Sept. 18.

The state notes that since two round of notices and appeal deadlines were issued by the county, it's possible that many taxpayers "did not timely exercise their appeal rights and not all appeals were properly accounted for to determine whether the appeals exceeded the threshold" outlined in state code. It also questioned whether the Board of Assessors had the legal authority to roll back assessments to the 2016 level and send a second round of notices.

The state also charges that assessments for residential properties appear to be deficient, as the level of assessment on residential and agricultural property fell below the 10-percent deviation allowed under state law while assessments on commercial and public utility properties were recorded at higher levels.

"The 2016 sales ratio study provides evidence that the county failed to adequately appraise residential and agricultural property in 2016 and failed to maintain uniformity between the classifications of property resulting in commercial, industrial and public utility property owners carrying a disproportionate share of the tax burden," the state notes.

The Department of Revenue also said Fulton County's 2017 digest and documents supporting the final numbers do not meet state submission laws, as several documents and certifications required by the state are either missing, incomplete or inaccurate. The agency goes on to state the county could use the letter in Superior Court in its petition to grant a temporary collection order.

In the meantime, this week's news is forcing at least one entity -- the Fulton County School System -- to scramble in an effort to ensure it can continue operations. The system said Thursday that the rejection is a "severe blow" to its ability to pay its bills in the next few weeks, as it calculates its fiscal year 2018 budget on 63 percent of its revenue coming from property taxes.

“The situation is dire,” said Robert Morales, chief financial officer for Fulton County Schools. “The district now has a cash flow problem. We are trying to determine how the district will operate without the anticipated tax revenue, and we may need to borrow money to make our payroll and pay our bills.”

Fulton schools states it will be seeking legal relief by joining the Fulton County government and Atlanta Public Schools to pursue a tax collection order, which will allow a Superior Court judge to intervene.

Typically, Fulton County sends property tax bills in early August and money is collected in mid-October. Fulton County Schools is now at the end of October with no idea of when it will get money. The Fulton County School Board is a careful steward of taxpayers’ money, "but each day the county delays sending tax bills cuts into its ability to meet financial obligations," the system added.

“The delay in property tax revenue puts our district in the difficult position of having to worry about how we will pay our 14,000 hardworking employees,” said Board President Linda Bryant.

City of Atlanta spokesperson Anne Torres, who said Fulton County filed the petition in Superior Court on Oct. 24, told Patch a hearing to consider the request is set for Nov. 3. If the court grants the county's petition, property tax bills will be due 45 days from the date they are mailed.

"Through sound fiscal practices and policies, the city has sufficient reserves to accommodate the expected 90-day delay in the revenue collection," Torres told Patch.

For its part, the city of Sandy Springs has a reserve fund that could cover about four months of operating costs "should there be an unforeseen emergency," said spokesperson Sharon Kraun.

"We are in contact with Fulton County and are following the latest regarding their interactions with the Department of Revenue about certifying the tax digest," she added.

City of Johns Creek spokesperson Jeff Breslau said they are still trying to determine how the rejection will impact its operations and should have a better picture of the situation by early next week.

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