Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 560-11-2-.56 - Review of County Tax Digest by the State Revenue Commissioner
(1) General.
(a) County boards of tax assessors are
required by the State Constitution and state law to continuously maintain
assessments of property that are reasonably uniform and that are based on fair
market value as defined in §
48-5-2(except as otherwise stated
in §
48-5-6 and §
48-5-7(c.3)). The Department is
required by law to periodically review the county digests to determine if the
digests are in compliance with such laws.
(b) This Regulation imposes no additional
requirements on the county boards of tax assessors. It merely sets forth the
statistical and other methods that are used by the Department in making its
determination. The Department does not determine when to revalue property. Each
county board of tax assessors determines for itself when it believes a
revaluation of property is necessary for legal compliance. Failure to revalue
property shall not in and of itself be a basis for assessment of any
penalty.
(c) Any digest submitted
shall be reviewed utilizing information established by the State Auditor to
determine whether or not the county tax digest is in accordance with the
uniformity requirements of §
48-5-343.
(2) Review of County Tax Digest by the State
Revenue Commissioner.
(a) County
Notification: In the event a county fails to meet the standards set forth in
paragraphs (c) through (k) of subparagraph (2) of this Regulation, the
Commissioner shall immediately notify the county. The notification shall
include the findings of the State Auditor regarding assessment bias and
assessment ratio, and any additional information the Commissioner believes
would be of assistance to the county board of tax assessors to establish
uniform values.
(b) Property
Classes: For purposes of this regulation the real and personal property of each
county shall be classified into five classes of property:
1. Residential (including Residential
Transitional and Historic);
2.
Agricultural (including Preferential, Conservation Use, Environmentally
Sensitive)
3. Commercial;
4. Industrial; (including
Brownfield)
5. Utility.
(c) Average Level of Assessment:
The Commissioner shall maintain uniformity among the classes of property by
setting standards for the average level of assessment for each.
(d) Standard For Level of Assessment: The
standard for level of assessment for all classes of property will be in
compliance with the Code if the upper limit of a ninety-five percent confidence
interval about the average level of assessment, as established by the State
Auditor, is equal to or greater than thirty-six percent, or the lower limit of
a ninety-five percent confidence interval about the average level of assessment
as established by the State Auditor, is less than forty-four percent.
(e) Uniformity Within a Class of Property:
The average assessment variance for each class of property shall be ensured by
the coefficient of dispersion of the sample for each class, as established by
the State Auditor.
(f) Standard for
Uniformity: The standard for uniformity will be deemed to have been met if the
resulting coefficient does not exceed fifteen percent for the residential class
of property or twenty percent for the non-residential classes of
property.
(g) Residential Class of
Property: If the State Auditor adds non-residential observations to the
residential sample to determine statistics applicable to the residential class
of property, the standard of uniformity for the residential class of property
shall be the same as for the non-residential classes of property.
(h) Assessment Bias: The level of assessment
bias within each class of property shall be measured by the price-related
differential as established by the State Auditor. It shall be deemed to be in
compliance if the resulting price-related differential is in the range of 0.95
to 1.10, inclusive.
(i) Magnitude
of Deficiency: If a class of property constitutes ten percent or less of the
assessed value of the total digest, and does not meet the uniformity
requirements the Commissioner may approve the digest if, in his judgment, the
approval will not substantially violate the concept of uniformity and
equalization.
(j) Overall Average
Assessment: The overall average assessment ratio for the county shall be the
weighted mean of the average level of assessment of the classes of property as
established by the State Auditor.
(k) Deviation of Overall Average Assessment:
If the overall average assessment ratio is less than thirty-six percent, the
digest shall be deemed to deviate substantially from the proper assessment
ratio. The Commissioner shall assess against the county governing authority
additional state tax in an amount equal to the difference between the amount
the state's levy of one-quarter mill would have produced if the digest had been
at the proper assessment ratio, and the amount the digest actually used for
collection purposes would produce.
(3) Digest Review by Department.
(a) County boards of tax assessors are
required by the State Constitution and state law to continuously maintain
assessments of property that are reasonably uniform and that are based on fair
market value. The Department is required by law to periodically review the
county digests to determine if the digests are in compliance with such
laws.
(b) The Department does not
determine when to revalue property. Each county board of tax assessors
determines for itself when all classes of property should be valued in
accordance with §
48-5-299(a). This
regulation imposes no additional requirements on the county boards of tax
assessors. The Department's digest review cycle is only established to validate
that counties are meeting the 40% of fair market value requirement of §
48-5-7, and no particular period
or schedule of revaluations is required of the counties by the Department for
approval of a county digest. Failure to revalue property shall not in and of
itself be a basis for assessment of any penalty.
(c) The digest review cycle for each county
commencing January 1, 2008, shall be as follows:
1. January 1, 2010 and every third January 1
thereafter for the following counties: Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Barrow,
Bibb, Bulloch, Carroll, Chattahoochee, Cherokee, Clarke, Clinch, Coffee,
Dougherty, Emanuel, Fannin, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Gilmer, Glascock, Glynn,
Gordon, Greene, Hall, Haralson, Irwin, Jasper, Jenkins, Johnson, Lumpkin,
McIntosh, Meriwether, Murray, Muscogee, Newton, Oglethorpe, Paulding, Peach,
Pickens, Pike, Putnam, Randolph, Screven, Stewart, Sumter, Tattnall, Tift,
Toombs, Turner, Twiggs, Union and Wheeler.
2. January 1, 2008 and every third January 1
thereafter for the following counties: Bartow, Bleckley, Brooks, Calhoun,
Candler, Chatham, Chattooga, Cobb, Colquitt, Cook, Crawford, Dawson, Douglas,
Early, Echols, Effingham, Forsyth, Grady, Gwinnett, Habersham, Harris, Hart,
Henry, Houston, Jones, Lamar, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Liberty, Lincoln, Long,
Lowndes, Macon, Madison, Marion, McDuffie, Monroe, Montgomery, Pierce, Polk,
Rockdale, Spalding, Taliaferro, Terrell, Treutlen, Upson, Ware, Warren, Wayne,
Wilcox, Wilkes and Worth.
3.
January 1, 2009 and every third January 1 thereafter for the following
counties: Appling, Banks, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Bryan, Burke, Butts,
Camden, Catoosa, Charlton, Clay, Clayton, Columbia, Coweta, Crisp, Dade,
Decatur, DeKalb, Dodge, Dooly, Elbert, Evans, Floyd, Hancock, Heard, Jackson,
Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Miller, Mitchell, Morgan, Oconee, Pulaski, Quitman,
Rabun, Richmond, Schley, Seminole, Stephens, Talbot, Taylor, Telfair, Thomas,
Towns, Troup, Walker, Walton, Washington, Webster, White, Whitfield and
Wilkinson.
(4)
If all three of the following circumstances exist, the Commissioner may require
the county tax receiver or tax commissioner to submit the digest being used for
the collection of taxes. That digest may be reviewed by the Commissioner to
determine if the valuations are reasonably uniform and equalized between and
within counties and to determine if any grants should be withheld or any
specific penalty assessed:
(a) The county tax
receiver or tax commissioner has failed to submit the digest by the due date
and has exhausted any extensions of the due date granted by the
Commissioner;
(b) The county
governing authority has successfully petitioned the superior court under §
48-5-310 to authorize the
temporary collection of taxes on the basis of a temporary digest; and
(c) The property under appeal or subject to
appeal is less than the maximum allowable under §
48-5-304(a).
Notes
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