Reassessment notices mailed out by county officials this week

The Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts released the 2016 Sales Ratio study this week at the same time thousands of property tax assessment notices were mailed to Grady County property owners.
Some residents report increases of up to 50 percent in the fair market value of their property.
Annually, the DOAA analyzes data to compare assessed values and market values.
The Grady County Board of Tax Assessors is charged with maintaining values consistent with sales of real property. When property is sold for more than the property is valued in the county’s tax digest that causes the sales ratio to drop below the required 40 percent.
In 2015, the county’s sales ratio was 37.41 and in 2016 it dropped to 37.3 percent, with only eight counties having a lower sales ratio, according to county officials.
The bulk of the county’s tax digest is in residential property followed by agricultural property. With residential property being 42 percent of the digest and the current sales ratio being 36.56, it is clear that some adjustment in values is necessary.
Agricultural property makes up 37.1 percent of the digest and the sales ratio for agricultural land is at 37.2 percent.
The value of public utilities is also low at 37.4 percent, but public utilities make up only 2.7 percent of the total digest.
It is the county’s commercial and industrial properties that are valued most accurately, according to the recently released sales ratio study. The current ratio is 39.3 percent for commercial and industrial.
The DOAA pulled 197 sample transactions in the 2016 sales ratio study. Of those, 71 were residential sales, 96 were agricultural sales and 15 were commercial/industrial properties.
Grady County property owners have until Aug. 7 to appeal the reassessment of their property. For more information or to discuss the appeal process, contact Chief Appraiser Susan Bennett at 229-377-3325.