Property owners across the region, eager to see their tax cut! Has anyone filed a property tax return this year? (Atlanta: foreclosures)

[Atlantasfinest]

I filed for my properties here so hopefully I can see some relief in the tax bill because the value they see my properties at in no way reflects the current market. Has anyone filed here and what do you expect to see happen as a result?

Link below...

Foreclosures in Atlanta have caused property values to fall all over the metro area and property owners could overpay their taxes this year by hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a study released Wednesday...

Property owners across the region, eager to see their tax values cut, have filed a record number of property tax returns urging assessors to lower assessments. The deadline to file was Wednesday for most Georgia counties and a month earlier for a few others.

Property tax gap wider, more costly, study finds | ajc.com (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/04/02/atlanta_area_home_values.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab _newstab - broken link)

[Iconographer]

Mine went up this year by about $450 per annum. Not surprising, since the lion's share is for Decatur schools and they are facing budget pressures like everyone else. In addition, we haven't seen the drop in prices and market lag that most areas have.

[RainyRainyDay]

Some of the thinking around this topic makes no sense to me. To my mind, the city or county sets their property tax rates at a level where they get enough revenue to pay for the services they choose or are required to provide.

In the last year, property values have gone down a lot. But does this mean that local services like schools need less funding? Au contraire, as LD points out. So, if everyone's property value goes down by 25%, say, but our assessments don't change, this does not mean that we are "overpaying" our taxes. If the city/county adjusts all the assessments downward, they'll just have to increase the tax rates ... or else close parks, bump school class sizes hugely, etc. They can't provide all the same services with a whole lot less revenue to fund them.

I have total sympathy for people who feel their assessment is out of whack with comparable properties. They certainly should apply for an adjustment. But I think it would be sensible for the rest of us to just live with the situation for this year until things stabilize. The last thing the city/county authorities need is to have to double/triple/quadruple etc. the size of their assessment staffs to cope with a flood of reassessment requests from the entire population. There has to be a better way.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

Some of the thinking around this topic makes no sense to me. To my mind, the city or county sets their property tax rates at a level where they get enough revenue to pay for the services they choose or are required to provide.

I agree. If they re-set all of the valuations based on current market conditions, they'll have to readjust the millage rates to ensure that they generate enough revenue to cover their expenses. It's really a futile exercise, IMO. Most of the towns in NJ had properties valuations that were decades old- they'd just change the multipliers every year to get to the proper tax amounts. People would freak out when a re-assessment was scheduled, thinking that their $400k house that wsa on the books as a $100k house from the previous valuation 20 years ago was suddenly going to see a 400% increase in property taxes.

As you said, if you're paying $4,000/year in taxes and your neighbor is paying $2,000 for the same exact house, that's one thing- but going in for reassessment "just because" is another.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

I agree. If they re-set all of the valuations based on current market conditions, they'll have to readjust the millage rates to ensure that they generate enough revenue to cover their expenses. It's really a futile exercise, IMO. Most of the towns in NJ had properties valuations that were decades old- they'd just change the multipliers every year to get to the proper tax amounts. People would freak out when a re-assessment was scheduled, thinking that their $400k house that wsa on the books as a $100k house from the previous valuation 20 years ago was suddenly going to see a 400% increase in property taxes.

As you said, if you're paying $4,000/year in taxes and your neighbor is paying $2,000 for the same exact house, that's one thing- but going in for reassessment "just because" is another.

It reminds me of Mr DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones' repeated election promise not to raise the millage rate on county taxes. He kept his promise and simply raised dramatically the county assessments. Any fool listening to his speeches could have anticipated that maneuver.

[ehoez]

i filed a return, but wont know anything until late june