County: Expect "Substantial Increase" In Property Values

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On Friday, the Fulton County Board of Assessors began mailing its annual notice of assessment to property owners.

Once that notice is delivered to your mailbox, be prepared to see a figure that’s higher than what you may have anticipated.

That’s because the county says many owners will see “a substantial increase in the value from the prior year due to a recovering real estate market that has seen values increasing at a very brisk rate as well as other factors that may have caused prior values to have been substantially below market value,” according to its press release.

The board encourages any owner who feels the value does not represent what the property would sell for to consider filing an appeal.

Appeals may not be based on the percentage or amount of increase, however. Georgia law allows appeals to be filed for value, uniformity or taxability only. Any information furnished with the appeal will be beneficial to the Assessors’ staff in reviewing the appeal and may lead to an early resolution of the appeal.

The final day to file an appeal is July 20. Any appeal not filed by the end of the 45-day appeal period cannot be accepted and appeal rights for 2015 will be lost.

The Board of Assessors encourages anyone choosing to file an appeal to do so on the Assessors’ website.

Filing online not only gives the appellant confirmation that the appeal has been received; it allows access to the Appeal Resolution Center, a new service offered by the board that allows the appellant to track their appeal’s progress as well as submit pictures, appraisals, and other documents to support their opinion of value and/or issues they feel should be taken into consideration by the Assessors’ office in the appeal process.

Assessment notices will be posted on the Assessors’ website within a few days after mailing. Any owner that does not receive their notice within a reasonable time after June 8 should visit the website to review the notice on the parcel data page of their parcel.

Also, notices that are returned undelivered by the post office will be listed periodically.

If you fail to receive a notice, and your notice is not shown on the data page of the parcel or on the list of returned mail, Contact the Board of Assessors at 404-612-6440 and the staff will be glad to assist.

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