Overall property values could climb by an average of at least 18% as a countywide reassessment of residential, commercial, and industrial land throughout Habersham wanes into its final phases.
The estimated figures came during a regular meeting among Habersham’s Board of Tax Assessors, county officials, and services firm McCormick & Associates Tuesday, April 22.
Certain residential property values could rise by 17% compared to last year, while commercial values may see increases of up to 20%, according to Kelly McCormick of McCormick & Associates, who is leading the countywide reappraisal.
McCormick stressed the 17% increase reflects a general adjustment, or an “overall digest change,” and may not be applied uniformly. Instead, certain properties could appreciate on a case-by-case basis.
“That’s not an average change,” McCormick said. “That is adding all of the values for those same commercial properties last year, and you added the new values, that’s the difference in the two. Some of these properties aren’t changing very much, and some of them are changing a lot.”
How this started
The reappraisal project came after a state review of tax assessment procedures in Habersham County discovered various communication issues and miscalculations by employees and former board members, as well as a widely-held belief that commercial values in particular were too low.
In 2023, in response to the perceived debacle, Habersham County agreed to pay McCormick just over $1.1 million for three years to reassess residential, industrial and commercial properties across the county.
A breakdown of those funds includes $50,000 for the supervision of new software installation and $75,000 for commercial property assessments, as well as almost $1 million to reassess all other property.
“Right now, commercial (property) looks like it’s going to have the highest percent of increase,” McCormick said. “But residential makes up such a large amount – that, dollar-amount-wise, it’ll be the biggest. It’s going to be a lower percentage increase as a class, but it’ll be a larger number on the (county’s tax) digest.”
Reassessment wrapping up
With a chunk of properties (17,000) already reassessed by McCormick’s team of five since last October, around 5,000 still need to be reevaluated. According to McCormick, at least 300 of 800 commercial properties have been reappraised during the process. He said an actual average change for each property owner won’t be known until the reassessment is complete, and those figures could vary drastically across the board.
“It’s going to be a case-by-case basis, depending on where their property was last year,” McCormick told board members. “…as far as an average value change, it’s really going to depend on how close your value was to correct from last year.”
Still, the firm’s findings have appeared higher than past estimates.
Last summer, preliminary figures for Habersham’s latest digest suggested a 12% rise in growth – including residential, industrial and commercial property – compared to last year.
Those numbers also estimated a value of $1.4 million in revenue from industrial property, plus a total of $3.7 million from commercial property, since last year. Total values for industrial property was just over $1.4 million and $3.3 million for commercial property the previous year.
While the latest preliminary digest numbers could be available in May or June, final figures should be calculated by July, when assessment notices are due to go out to households.
“We’re hoping for June, but July would be the latest,” McCormick said.
High values, lower millage rate?
If property values rise after reassessment, the county could see a significant boost in potential revenue and even greater digest numbers. While higher values could by default trigger higher taxes, a lower millage rate could lessen that burden on homeowners.
Habersham County’s current millage rate is 12.682. A mill is equal to $1 per $1,000 in taxable property value. Property is assessed at 40% of its value in Habersham.
Habersham County Commission Chairman Jimmy Tench said he’d undoubtedly support a millage rate rollback, regardless of the circumstances.
“I don’t like taxes to go up on people – not in the situations we are in right now,” Tench said. “We’re not in a good position right now to (raise taxes).”
Habersham County Commission Vice Chairman Bruce Harkness said he’d continue to push for a rollback.
“We will have to lower the millage rate because these increases in assessments is kind of a roundabout way that people’s taxes go up without commissioner involvement,” said Harkness, who indicated commercial property owners should “pay their fair share to relieve homeowners. “…I will definitely be fighting for a rollback in the millage rate to help ease this pain of the increase in the value of people’s property.”
In the wake of the projected figures, Habersham County Commissioner Ty Akins said he’s inclined to support a partial or full millage rate rollback. Still, he said, certain necessary expenses – like upgrading county fire stations in poor condition – should not be forgotten.
“We need to start knocking out one or two of those (projects),” he said. “…but I’m in that group. I’m going to support a rollback.”
‘People can’t afford to pay more taxes’
Commissioner Dustin Mealor agreed with fellow board members.
“I think that we still need to pursue a full rollback or more,” Mealor said. “The economy has definitely not gotten much better for our citizens. I don’t know why property values would’ve went up much. It seems to me home values actually retreated a little bit. But I think we need to pursue a budget that gives the citizens a full rollback. People can’t afford to pay more taxes right now.”
Commissioner Kelly Woodall said he “believes in restricting the amount of money going into our county government, or any government,” and thus will advocate for reduced tax rates by any means.
“There never seems to be a shortage of ideas and ways to spend money when it comes to governments,” Woodall said. “We should make sure we adequately fund the government to provide the services we have committed to for our citizens and take care of the county employees who dedicate their lives to delivering those services. Any funds above this belong to the people, not the government.”
Woodall added that: “…rising valuations does not mean individuals or businesses can afford to pay taxes on that increased value. Penalizing businesses and individuals with higher taxes because their property values increased in a hyper-inflated market without taking into account the effect of inflation on their businesses and their lives in general would be unjust. Just because the property value increased, (that) doesn’t mean their incomes increased.”
With citizens coping with inflation and rising prices, Woodall went on to say, “the county must do the same.”
“The county is and will do the same in our spending and priorities,” he said. “All discussions on property reassessments and valuations should begin with the county budget and spending. If we do our best to hold spending, there should be no need for the additional revenue that could come from the reassessments.”
New software
McCormick already has implemented the widely-used WinGap software, a specialized system for property appraisal in Georgia, and replaced the county’s previous software, BI-Tek. The new system aims to streamline the process of calculating property values and enhance overall efficiency.
Chief Appraiser Joan Church has said that some of tax office’s staff of eight employees has continued to familiarize themselves with the new software.
Bill Terry, chairman of Habersham County’s Board of Tax Assessors, said he feels positive about the ground gained since last year.
“I think McCormick is doing a fantastic job,” Terry said. “They’re pulling all the resources together to get it caught up…there have been some delays – some of which were unexpected – but we’re on track.”
