State Senate considers property tax changes

As expected, state senator Chip Rogers and five co-sponsors introduced Senate Bill 346 last Monday, which would allow property owners to appeal their values at any time, and would require assessment notices to be sent to property owners annually.

The full text of the proposed legislation is available here, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has provided these good bullet points summarizing the highlights of the bill:

• Year-round property appeals.
• Making sure that every property receives an annual notice of assessment.
• Statewide uniformity of assessment notices and appeal forms.
• Allowing counties to accept payment plans for property taxes and discounts for early payments.
• Establishing time limits for assessor action in response to appeals.
• Requiring a unanimous vote by Board of Equalization members to increase assessed value.

The bill has already met some resistance, but given the clout of the senators already supporting it, some version of “assessment reform” appears likely to pass during this legislative session.

In other state property tax news, the Department of Revenue has proposed new rules for calculating conservation use assessment values.