Jan. 2 storm damage won’t ease taxpayers’ 2017 burden

ALBANY — When it comes to property tax evaluation, the chairman of the Dougherty County Board of Tax Assessors told the County Commission on Monday, one day makes all the difference in the world.

William Ashberry, on hand at the commission’s work meeting for a storm damage property valuation update, told commissioners they can expect to field angry calls once 2017 evaluations are mailed out late in the year.

“The value of a property is determined on January 1st each year, by law,” Ashberry said. “And, as everyone knows, the storms hit here on Jan. 2. And even for properties like those trailers that were completely destroyed by the tornado later in the month, the value of the property (for 2017) will be based on its Jan. 1 value.

“I’m trying to let taxpayers know so that they can be prepared, but I think a lot of them are still going to want to shoot the messenger.”

Ashberry said structural damage is only part of the storm’s potential impact on the county’s tax digest for 2017. He noted that the loss of hundreds of trees on various properties could also impact those properties’ values.

“Yes, we lost a lot of buildings, some of which will not be replaced,” the Tax Assessors Board chair said. “But we had a lot more properties lose trees. We’re going to watch sales of those properties to see what affect losing those trees will have in our overall property value. It’s going to be a tough year for assessment.”

Ashberry and county Tax Director Shonna Colley said the impact of the storm should not have much of an impact on 2016 tax collections, which were due last Dec. 20.

“We’re still at about 92 percent of collections now, and we’re reviewing our delinquent taxes to determine our next step,” Colley said. “The storm doesn’t impact our collections for the last year.”

Asked if allowances might be made for substantial losses on some of the properties whose taxes had not been paid, Colley said there were none.

“There are no provisions in the law to make adjustments for past-due taxes or for damaged properties looking ahead to 2017,” the tax director said.

Ashberry said that while a large portion of recovery and rebuilding will no doubt take place between now and the end of the year, some in the community underestimate the overall damage.

“I think you’re going to see the storm have a large impact on our tax values in 2017,” he said. “There are a whole lot of blue tarps on houses now, and what some don’t realize is that the damage on these structures is usually not just roof damage. There’s damage to the trusses and other structures.

“Again, we’ll be able to assess the impact that the storm will have on our digest when when we see what houses that sell this year sell for.”

District 5 Commissioner Gloria Gaines suggested city, county and local financial leaders form a task force that would maximize efforts to help citizens with storm recovery. She also suggested involving officials from other communities impacted by the storm.

“This could be an effective regional effort,” she said.

District 2 Commissioner John Hayes asked if the interest collected from SPLOST funds might be used for some type of storm relief, but County Attorney Spencer Lee said all moneys and interest from SPLOST collections must be used for projects approved on the referendum through which voters approved the special 1 percent tax.