GREENE COUNTY
There’s a funny thing about home ownership. When the value of your house goes up, it brings a smile to your face. Moments later, that smile fades as you begin to wonder how much more property tax you are going to pay.
Earlier this year, Greene County property appraisals went out. The millage rate has been set by county commissioners, and bills will be out soon.
Most people will pay property taxes based on 40 percent of the appraised value of their home. Then, homestead exemptions are subtracted to get the amount the property is taxed on. Homestead exemptions vary depending on age, financial means, and disabled veteran status.
Here’s where Greene County residents have an advantage over a vast majority of Georgians. It’s an additional exemption called the homestead freeze.
“Not everybody has a homestead freeze,” Greene County’s Chief Tax Appraiser Debbie Moreno explained. “Greene County is one. They passed this back in ’06 when that original market got aggressive, and it’s been in place.”
When a house is built or purchased, owners should file for the county’s homestead exemption. In Greene County, when they do that, the appraised value of their home is frozen – forever, as long as it remains their permanent residence. Summer homes are not eligible.
For example, a home appraised at $300,000 when you move in may escalate in value to $500,000 over the years. But, for tax purposes, it remains at $300,000 until sold. Then it jumps to whatever the current appraised value is for the buyer, who can in turn lock in that value for themselves by filing for the homestead exemption.
“If you do a major addition to your property, then the difference from your original homestead freeze will increase by that permit amount,” Moreno said.
That increase also applies only to improvements attached to the house. For example, swimming pools, detached garages, outdoor kitchens, fire pits, boat docks and boat lifts do not increase the original tax freeze valuation, although they likely will increase the market valuation of the property.
Moreno has been Greene County’s chief tax appraiser for four years, after working in the Morgan County tax appraiser’s office for more than 15 years. She said there was a countywide property reevaluation in 2006, during a boom in the market, and then in 2008, the market tanked.
“From about 2010 to probably 2018 or 2019, it was stagnant. Everything just chugged along. Then the start of COVID. The housing market started creeping,” Moreno said. “Granted, the first time because it was supply and demand. Lumber prices were skyrocketing. You couldn’t get things because of the shutdown. But it’s continued. We have a very overinflated market right now in the state of Georgia.”
As an example, she provided a list of properties sold on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).In August 2022, 33 properties sold in Greene County at an average value of $748,259. Last month, just one year later, 33 properties also sold, but at an average price of $1.24 million. None of Georgia’s other 158 counties had an average sale price of more than $800,000 in August 2023.
The county tax appraiser’s office sets valuations on properties every year, adjusting them based on the price of nearby homes. It’s a balancing act of uniformity, where recent sales impact the valuation of similar properties in the county.
“Georgia law says we’re to view every property every three years,” Moreno said, adding however, that with only two people on staff and 17,672 parcels in Greene County, that’s impossible. “We paid a visit to, I would say, 85 percent of all properties.”
She explained aerial imagery makes it possible to view all county properties when necessary and it is updated every two to three years. Maps with detailed information and closeup views of every parcel are available to the public atwww.qpublic.net/ga/greene/.
Don’t like your property’s appraisal? Appeal.
Two years ago, an outside company was hired to do a major update of property valuations. It triggered many appeals. Moreno said that in 2021, the first year of the major re-evaluations, 912 appeals were filed. In 2022, that number dropped to 238. But this year, 740 challenges were filed.
Appeals go to the Board of Tax Appraisers, a group of five volunteers who are appointed by the County Commission to rule on evaluation challenges.
If nothing is resolved, appeals advance to the county Board of Equalization. This board is appointed by a grand jury. It’s made up of county property owners who must pass 40 hours of certified training, plus an eight-hour continuing education class each year.
The next step is a jury trial in Superior Court.
Moreno said there were 28 appeals that made it to the Board of Equalization last year and only two were changed. Three cases went to Superior Court but were settled before trial, she added.
Moreno said the most important thing for new homeowners in Greene County to remember is to file for their homestead exemption as soon as possible after building or buying a home, or they will not get the freeze on their valuation for tax purposes that year.