For 2008, the Dawson County Board of Tax Assessors reappraised rural properties. Other neighborhoods or property categories were not included in the reappraisal because they fall into the acceptable level of assessment in keeping with State of Georgia guidelines...
The state of Georgia recommends that properties in all counties be reappraised every three years. To accomplish this each county is broken down into assessment neighborhoods. “Neighborhoods” may include rural property, lake property, subdivisions, or commercial property. For 2008, the Dawson County Board of Tax Assessors reappraised rural properties. Other neighborhoods or property categories were not included in the reappraisal because they fall into the acceptable level of assessment in keeping with State of Georgia guidelines.
According to Chief Appraiser Clarence Brown, “In Georgia, property is required to be assessed at 40% of the fair market value unless otherwise specified by law.” He continued, “We are allowed to be within an acceptable range of 38% - 42% without penalty. If the County property assessments fall below the acceptable range, we can then be penalized by the State.”
Brown stated, “This reappraisal focused on rural properties. We frequently review subdivisions so we found that they were more in line with the required 40% than rural properties which had not been reappraised since 2004. Other properties, including those found in subdivisions, may have experienced increases when the required ratio indicated it was merited.”
Questions have risen regarding properties qualifying for preferential programs such as conservation use. “Fair market value, which we are required to keep on all properties, has nothing to do with conservation use value, which is furnished to the Board of Assessors by the State of Georgia,” said Brown. “It can only increase 3% in most cases,” he continued. “If your property was designated in a conservation use covenant, it is still in conservation use, and the fair market value would only be used to determine the penalty if a breach of the covenant occurs.”
The Dawson County Tax Assessors office makes every attempt to serve the citizens efficiently. Information on assessments, tax estimation, exemptions for which you may be entitled, and public tax records may be easily found at www.dawsontaxassessors.org.