In the course of a presentation and debate before the Fayette County Board of Equalization, the county assessor, in defense of his position, read a summary of recent home sales in category and how the sales price compared to the value his office had determined for the property.

He freely acknowledged that one-third of the houses sold in Fayette County sold for less than his office had valued them and upon which valuation the homeowners had paid excess property taxes for untold years.

When called upon to explain, he simply said his office used an “under/over” basis to determine how closely their valuations were to actual Fair Market Value (the amount the house eventually sold for) and that it was up to each individual to protest if he thought his home was over valued on the tax rolls.

“Under/over” simply means that if some undefined ratio between those over-valued and those under-valued existed, his office had done its job.

To purposefully have in place a policy that results in one-third of the county’s property owners paying more than their legal share of taxes is nothing short of criminal.

The assessor’s office works on the assumption that few will take the time to analyze their tax bill and even fewer will have the time to waste a day protesting it. No one, not one single taxpayer should ever be billed for taxes in excess of what is due. Otherwise is nothing short of confiscatory.

William J. McNew
Fayetteville, Ga.