Property taxpayer news

The special election to fill state Senate District 42 is today. Decatur News Online has been covering the candidates’ positions including what their budget priorities would be during an era of dwindling tax revenues.

For his advocacy of SB 346, state Sen. Chip Rogers has been named legislator of the year by Georgia Property Taxpayers Committee. GaPTC also named Rep. Ed Lindsey.

In a class action securities fraud case, Countrywide has agreed to a $600 million settlement for misrepresenting the quality of its loan portfolio to investors. Until collapsing during the nationwide mortgage meltdown and being taken over by Bank of America, Countrywide was the biggest mortgage lender in America.

Proposition 13, California’s landmark 1978 measure that capped property tax assessments, and arguably inspired legislative reform proposals nationwide and in Georgia over the last several years (such as HB 233, HR1, and SB 346), is undergoing new scrutiny by lawmakers in Sacramento. Some critics have blamed property tax reforms for California’s fiscal problems.

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.