BOA reviews ‘scathing’ state report while considering accuracy of 2008 ...

That’s a question largely up to the board of tax assessors (BOA) as they decide whether or not to approve the 2008 property tax digest (a compilation of values of all county tax parcels) next week. The long-awaited digest will be presented to them by chief tax appraiser James Flynt at a meeting Monday, Nov. 17.

Meanwhile, the BOA met with Flynt Monday to discuss a newly released Georgia Department of Revenue review largely critical of the “appraisal methods, procedures and administration of the property tax program” in Madison County.

Board members requested the review from the state in August, when they continued to be dissatisfied with preliminary digest numbers they were receiving from Flynt.

The DOR officials expressed concerns that property in the county is not being evaluated fairly for all taxpayers and that there is evidence of “sales chasing” (reappraising recently sold property).

Flynt said he has corrected a lot of “sales chasing” in his two years as chief appraiser, noting that he and his staff have inherited some of the current problems from previous appraisal staffs. He also told the board that he needed a detailed assessment of the DOR’s findings before he could properly provide answers or rebuttals to the report.

The BOA also agreed to set up a work session with the board of commissioners as soon as possible to go over the DOR review, get commissioners’ opinions, and discuss additional financing for the tax appraisal office, specifically in order to bring tax maps up to date.

“What we’ve got here is a scathing, even embarrassing report,” new BOA member David Ragland said of the DOR review.

The 12-page report cited a number of areas of concern, including stating that the BOA demonstrates “a tendency to micro-manage the county appraisal staff.”

“There have been several instances where the chief appraiser and the BOA have been unable to reach an understanding due to their inability to effectively communicate,” the report stated. “This inability to communicate appears to be an underlying reason for the BOA’s request for this informal review.”

The review concluded by advising that a “clear chain of command” needs to be established with everyone understanding their role. DOR officials said the county needs an overhaul of the property records and appraisals need to be completed and consistent with uniform methods applied.

They stated that documentation needs to be developed to show how property values are determined, with this documentation made available to taxpayers and office staff alike. Policies of the BOA (particularly conservation use covenants) need to be reviewed and changed in order to be in compliance with Georgia law. Finally, the DOR suggested that there needs to be a complete and thorough update of all property records in order to equalize assessments throughout the county.

The report also noted that “certain practices” cited in a 2004 Performance Review Board report as “problematic” are still being followed by the current board and staff. In fact, the report noted, out of 12 specific recommendations, only three have been acted on, while two others are no longer relevant sent they dealt with a previous employee.

Based on the DOR review, most of the board seemed to agree that a majority of properties in the county are incorrectly valued. In fact, except for new construction, most members said they feel that the majority of properties are appraised at well below fair market value.

“We need to make a decision (on the digest) based on the best information we have,” board member Bob Fowler said. “And are we ready for the repercussions if we turn it down? …We need to do some soul-searching.”

Board member Larry Stewart said he doesn’t “want to vote ‘yes’ on something that’s not right,”

“But the people across the hall (BOC) are waiting for the budget to be funded,” Ragland noted. “If there’s no digest, the county’s broke and there’s no budget.”

If the digest is approved by the BOA, it will then go before commissioners before being sent to the state for final approval. Once the state approves the digest, 2008 tax bills can be sent out.

If the five-member assessor board does not vote approve the digest Monday night, it is uncertain what the next step in the process will be, Stewart said after the meeting Monday.

Tax levying boards in the county depend on the digest to set their mill rates for property taxes.

HISTORY OF PROBLEMS

The state’s report also summed up a history of recent problems in the tax assessors’ office.

“In 2003, the board of tax assessors adopted the county BOC’s personnel policy and as a result of this action, there have been several instances of disagreements between the BOA and the BOC regarding the management of tax appraisal staff,” the report noted.

These disagreements culminated in a county Superior Court ruling that stated that the BOA had given their authority to hire and fire the chief appraiser and other members of the appraisal staff to the county commission.

“This has created as somewhat adversarial relationship between the boards,” the report noted.

“Since the BOA has the ultimate responsibility to ensure that all property is valued at the proper level and is assessed uniformly between individual property owners, coupled with the fact that they have limited management authority, a difficult situation for the BOA exists,” the reported continued.

The report also noted that the county’s attorney has offered several approaches for resolving the management issue, but that none have been adopted by the county.