
“FULTON TAX FIASCO WORST IN LONG LINE OF GAFFS” By John Adams
TEASE: The Fulton County Tax Commissioners office has reached a NEW LOW in their mission to fairly issue property tax bills to property owners in 2017. What’s next?
SETTING THE STAGE:
The Fulton County TAX COMMISSIONERS office has been plagued with errors, mistakes, and downright incompetence for years, but in 2017, they’ve hit a new low.
Here to explain it all is our own Fox5 Real Estate Expert, John Adams.
Q: John, what’s this all about?
A: Well, if you already have a NOTICE OF ASSESSMENT from FULTON COUNTY for 2017, you can just tear it up. The Tax Assessor has decided the first round was just a joke for fun. The real deal is coming up.
Q: OK, that’s comforting, but why does it matter to Fulton county home owners?
A: Because the tax commissioner received so much pushback on the higher assessments for 2017, they decided to simply CAVE and go back to last year’s assessments.
Q: Can they do that?
A: Well, technically NO, but it will certainly be the popular thing to do and, more importantly, it gets the tax commissioner off the hook for 2017.
Q: You’ve got to be kidding, right?
A: No, I am dead serious!
Q: So, what happened to get us to this point in 2017?
A: Well, the tax assessor was doing his job, and performed a major revision of property values for 2017.
Q: OK, what’s wrong with that?
A: Well, it showed that most residential property values were up dramatically from where they were when last evaluated.
Q: Sounds like good news to me!
A: Yeah, but no one wants higher property taxes, so the homeowners went beserk. They protested by the thousands, and demanded relief from the Fulton County Commission, who called the TAX COMMISSIONER and said “DO SOMETHING — QUICK!!!”
Q: Sounds good so far. So what happened?
A: The TAX COMMISSIONER told the Tax Assessor they had to DO SOMETHING QUICK, and they only thing he could come up with was to revert to 2016 values while they reassessed the entire county residential tax digest once again for 2018.
Q: John, this still sounds good. What’s the problem?
A: Well, the COMMISSION has STILL not set the MILLAGE RATE, which is applied to the assessment to determine tax liability. If the total of all assessments (called the DIGEST) goes down, then the primary source of revenue for the COUNTY goes down.
Q: That sort of sounds good too.
A: Not to the COMMISSIONERS! They need more and more money every year to fund the ever expanding list of county projects, so that presents a serious problem.
Q: So what’s next?
A: Actually it’s simple arithmetic! If the digest goes down and you need more money, you just RAISE THE MILLAGE RATE!
Q: Surely everyone will see through that?
A: No, most homeowners have NO IDEA of what the millage rate is or what it does, so it goes over the head of most owners.
Q: But why can’t the COMMISSIONERS simply CUT SPENDING to live within their means like the rest of us do?
A: Surely you jest! Buck, you are starting to sound like President George Washington or maybe Benjamin Franklin. That kind of thinking is REALLY out of style!
Q: I understand. So, if I own a home in Fulton County, what should I do?
A: Tear up your previous NOTICE of ASSESSMENT and get ready for a new one, that will match last year’s assessment. Then get ready to protest that amount. You’ll only have 45 days from the date your NEW assessment is mailed.
Q: Do we know when that will happen?
A: Current best guess is sometime in AUGUST. We will watch and report.
Q: In the meantime, what can viewers do to get ready for the new assessment forms?
A: Join the Fox5 FACEBOOK Live Chat starting in five minutes from right now and I will answer all your real estate questions.
INTERVIEWER: OK, so John will be joining us on our FOX5 FACEBOOK PAGE for a Live Chat for the next 60 minutes to answer all your real estate questions. Just log onto FACEBOOK and go to FOX5 ATLANTA to find the chat.
TAG LINE:
Atlanta native John Adams is a broker, broadcaster, and writer who owns and manages residential real estate in the Atlanta area. He answers any and all real estate questions on his award winning radio show every Sunday at 11 a.m. on WGKA 920am. You can contact John through his website at Money99.com.
