Bill Kulling is disputing the county's assessment of the value of his Kipling Drive property, which has been flooded by Rae's Creek several times in the past decade. CHRISTINE DE LESSIO/STAFF

Many appealing property assessments

Web posted June 23, 1999

By Sylvia Cooper
Staff Writer

State Sen. Charles Walker is doing it. Richmond County District Attorney Danny Craig is doing it. So is former Augusta Mayor Charles DeVaney.

They are among more than 2,000 Augusta residents or business owners who are appealing their 1999 property assessments.

Mr. Walker contends his house on Monte Sano Avenue should be valued at no more than $405,000 for tax purposes and is appealing the $451,000 assessment the tax office put on it this year, according to records in the assessor's office.

Mr. Craig is appealing three reassessments: one on property on Ravenel Road that assessors value at $301,400 but that he contends is worth only $245,000; one on Lakemont Drive that assessors place at $125,000 and that he assesses at $110,000; and one on Glenburn Drive that assessors value at $60,200 and that he assesses at $55,000.

Mr. DeVaney is appealing assessments on two properties on Broad Street, one of them at 324 Broad St., which the tax office assesses at $144,000 and he contends should be assessed at $49,000.

Less known but equally convinced they are being overtaxed are Kipling Drive homeowners Bill and Ethie Kulling.

The Kullings are appealing the $129,800 reassessment of their property that they contend should be valued at $108,000 because it has been flooded by Rae's Creek ``three or four times since the big flood'' of 1990.

``Would you buy a house that's been flooded every time it rains a little too much?'' Mrs. Kulling asked. ``I mean, I even offered tax assessors just to buy our house for what they assessed it at. Only out-of-towners would buy our house.''

This is a year of total revaluation of all taxable property in the county. Chief Appraiser Harrison Sears said his office is doing the revaluation a year early.

``Every three years we get audited by the state,'' he said. ``Year 2000 is our normal year to be audited, but because we're going on a new computer system we decided to do it a year earlier, so if there are any glitches in the computer system we wouldn't have no problems. And it's worked real well.''

State law requires that all properties be assessed at 100 percent of market value, Mr. Sears said.

This is the last year local governments in Georgia will get an automatic increase because of reassessments.

Next year, assessment increases must be offset by a corresponding decrease in millage -- unless local governing bodies give public notice that taxes will increase and hold three public hearings.

Mr. Sears said this year's early total revaluation has nothing to do with that new law.

Of the 55,308 reassessment notice changes mailed by the assessor's office in April, 2,725 appeals were filed, according to Mr. Sears.

Mr. Sears said this year's 5.6 percent appeal rate is much lower than expected and lower than that of previous years of total revaluations.

``The normal appeals on a revaluation is anywhere from 8 to 10 percent. We're way below what normally is appealed,'' Mr. Sears said. ``The last time we did a revaluation in '95, we had almost 9 percent, and the one before that in '91 we had 13 percent.''

In 1980, the first year Richmond County property was appraised at its real fair market value, there were 10,000 appeals, and an angry crowd gathered in front of the Municipal Building and threatened to throw the chief appraiser in the river, Mr. Sears said.

``Also, that's when they went from paperwork to computer,'' Mr. Sears said.

``And the good 'ol boy system went out the window,'' said Meg Woodward, secretary for the assessors board.

All of this year's appeals will be revisited, reappraised and brought to the board of assessors with a recommendation either to accept the property owner's value, lower the assessment or maintain the value placed on it by the assessor's office.

The percent of appeals in a year of total revaluation must be below 5 percent or the city's tax digest will not be approved by the state, Mr. Sears said.

All appeals that are denied by the assessor's board automatically go to the board of equalization. If a property owner is dissatisfied with the amount the assessor's board lowers his assessment, he may appeal to the equalization board in writing within 21 days.

The equalization board consists of three boards of three regular members and three alternate members, all appointed by the grand jury.

This year's reassessments affect 78 percent of Richmond County's 72,676 real estate parcels, representing a 5 percent increase in real estate values from 1998.

The next board of assessors meeting is July 6.

Sylvia Cooper can be reached at (706) 823-3228 or sylviaco@augustachronicle.com.