“I can’t just pick a figure out of the sky and lower all the values 15 percent—that’s not the way it works,”

Chief Appraiser Richard Lamb quipped. Lamb’s comment came at the end of an extended discussion during the September 15th Tax Assessors Meeting. The theme of the meeting was manifold. The first and perhaps more dominating fold was that of property devaluation, while inevitably the second fold was how to address the issue of devaluation of property in Gilmer County. The devaluation theme was forged early in the meeting. In the first part of the session, Board Chairman Jeff Holloway noted that with a recent assessment, a group of land parcels’ value has gone from $10,000 to $1500. The board said between eight and 10 parcels are included in this group. Chief Appraiser Lamb said he reviewed each one of the 10 parcels and said that they were

“way overvalued based on the market.”

He also added that it was all he could do for the owner and that it was the right things to do.

“All the numbers were justifiable,”

he said.

Lamb then highlighted another, similar situation. The situation pertained to land located behind CVS and Chik-Fil-A off 515 near the fire house. He said that the land was initially valued at 100 percent. The full value was given with the expectation of the owners developing the land. Currently, the land is not developed, so the board agreed to devalue the land. Since the roads are not yet “cut” (established and paved) the board is then authorized to devalue the parcel. FYN has inquired about this land and will soon meet with the Assessors Office to investigate the matter to learn why the land was given full value if it was not yet developed.

But, perhaps the most controversial numbers came out at the end of the meeting when in response to a public question Lamb disclosed the digest value of the old Ellijay Bank property. Lamb said that in 2011 the property was valued in the digest for $1.9 million. Last month, the Board of Education purchased this property for the building from the F.D.I.C. for $667,000. The difference between the value and purchase price forces the question, who pays the difference? More accurately, the question is who pays the taxes on this land? Government entities do not pay property taxes if the property is within the government’s own jurisdiction. This means that now since the old Ellijay Bank is now or will shortly be owned by the Gilmer Board of Education taxes will not be paid on the building. Currently, almost $20,000 in taxes is owed on the property. This is also the amount of taxes that would have been paid to the county if the bank building and property would have been purchased by a private business. Now, though, the county absorbs the cost. Over a 10 year period, taxes on this property from a private business would equal an estimated $200,000. In short, this is money lost to the county.

A crucial piece of the puzzle is the tax digest. Recall, in the meeting Lamb said he could not

“just pick a figure out of the sky and lower all the values 15 percent.”

Oddly, this same number was also mentioned a few months ago. At the June 10th meeting, former Chief Appraiser Stan King asserted that after settling the assessed property disputes, the digest could drop as much as 15 percent. However, a larger percent may loom.

In light of devaluations of properties discussed in the meeting, values on the books are starting to change. When FYN pressed Chief Appraiser Lamb on this issue, seeking confirmation, Lamb gestured in the affirmative. Over the course of the meeting, the board identified adjustments ranging from 50 to 85 percent. Short of speculation, this means that the county expects that in the third quarter of this year or the first of next, it will see a major liquidation of property pricing prefaced by comparable value assessments. Comparable value assessments seem to be one of the culprits in the devaluation cases discussed in the meeting. Comparable values work like this: If the market or real value of 10 parcels of land is $70,000 each and one of those parcels is sold for $8000, then this one sale of $8000 drives down the values of the rest of the parcels, condemning them to be sold for a significantly lower price than their market price. Lamb confirmed that this type of situation is occurring more frequently. In addition to the issue of sinking property values due to comparable value assessments, is the issue of sinking property values due to a gasping national real estate market. “

Our values need to follow the market,” Lamb said, “if the market is going in a downward turn, then we need to have the revaluation tools to get these values right.”