Former legislature candidate Rick Viall has paid about $1,170 in back taxes in Fulton County, though he doesn't admit to owing the tax.

"It's time to move on," Viall said Tuesday. "There's law out there that supports my position, but... I'd like to go on with my life," he added.

Viall did not commit voter fraud when he ran for the state legislature as a Peachtree City resident this past summer, but he may owe back taxes in Fulton County, district attorney Bill McBroom ruled late last week.

"He may have a problem in Fulton County. He doesn't have a problem in Fayette County," McBroom said this week after filing his response to a request to investigate the matter from the Fayette County Board of Elections.

Viall, an insurance broker, challenged 105th District Rep. Dan Lakly for his seat in the state House, but both Lakly and Viall lost the Republican nomination to high school teacher Kathy Cox.

Following hearings prompted by complaints from local resident Harold Goza, the elections board told the district attorney that Viall voted in Fayette County elections for more than ten years while living in Fulton County, and asked him to investigate the case.

But McBroom said Viall has treated Fayette as his personal residence during all that time. "Your domicile is where you consider to be your personal residence," said McBroom. Viall has voted in Fayette since 1980, and purchased car tags here, he said.

McBroom added that he has sent his findings to the Fulton County tax commissioner, who may want to pursue back taxes possibly owed by Viall.

Tax commissioner Arthur Ferdinand had not returned phone calls from The Citizen at press time Tuesday.

"I found a case that was actually in Fayette county, where a man owned a home in Fayette County and also owned a home in Talbot County, and had filed for homestead exemption on both of them," said McBroom. The homestead exemption provides a property tax reduction for owner-occupied homes.

The man ran for Talbot County probate judge, and his opponent tried to have him disqualified, but he won the right to seek office based on the fact that he had always intended to live in Talbot and had considered it his domicile, McBroom said.

But he had to pay back taxes in Fayette, because the homestead exemption can legally apply to only one home.

Viall, who received a homestead exemption on a Fulton County home for about five years, may owe back taxes as well, said McBroom.

It would be up to the tax commissioner and Fulton district attorney to pursue the matter if they choose, he added.

But Viall's case is not the same as the Talbot case, said Eric Maxwell, Viall's friend and attorney. Viall filed for homestead exemption on only one home, not two. "You can't vote in two counties and you can't take homestead in two counties. Rick continued to live in Fayette County and vote in Fayette County, but he did purchase the home up there that he was renovating, and he did reside in it when he was fixing it up," said Maxwell.

Viall said he was told by the tax office that he could take the homestead exemption under those circumstances. "They asked me if I lived in the house and I said that I lived in Fayette County," said Viall. "They asked if I was receiving a homestead exemption in Fayette, and I said no, that I was living with my parents. I have been nothing but forthright all the way across the board, but I don't want anything I don't have coming to me."

Viall said he calculated how much benefit he had received from the homestead exemption for 1998, multiplied that figure by five, and then sent the Fulton tax office a check last week.