Hart County BOC Agrees to Peer Review of County Tax Assessor Office

Hart County’s Tax Assessors office will undergo a peer review conducted by the Georgia Department of Revenue.

At their meeting last week, the Hart County Board of Commissioners approved the review as part of a settlement with a property owner.

According to County Attorney Walter Gordon, property owner Andy Adams filed the suit claiming his property assessments for the years 2010 – 2012 were not uniform.

“The judge ordered us to mediate that case because it was a very complex issue and did involve multiple years of taxes and some of those taxes being a uniformity appeal and called into question 18,000 pieces of property in Hart County,” Gordon said.

After two years of mediation with no agreement in site, Gordon said the mediator took over and suggested a possible settlement last December.

“After the judge ordered mediation, we came within a frog hair of a settlement but could not agree on language for the final order,” Gordon explained. “So in December or early January, the mediator came forward and made a proposal of his own. And he made a proposal, which everyone agreed to.”

Part of that settlement calls for an independent third party to conduct a performance peer review of the policies and practices in the Tax Assessor’s office.

“The Revenue Commissioner then picks three individuals, one Revenue Department employee, one assessor from another county and one appraiser from another county,” he said. “They come and spend about two or three days examining the procedures and methods used in our tax assessor office and then they make a recommendation.”

Gordon said from there, they write a report to the Department of Revenue. They also submit to the Hart County Board of Commissioners a one-page summary of the deficencies they found in the tax assessors office.

Once the review is completed, the Tax Assessor’s office must comply with any recommendations from the review board.

Gordon said if the Tax Assessor’s office does not comply with any mandatory orders, the Court can then

Additionally under the terms of the settlement, the Tax Assessor’s office cannot go back and change any property assessments for the years 2010-2012.

After hearing from Gordon, the Commission voted unanimously to contact the Dept of Revenue and request a peer review of the Hart County Tax Assessor’s office.