AllOnGeorgia recently sent a few questions to Stan King, CEO GMASS, Inc. Appraisal Services.
Has GMASS been paid by Chattooga County for the initial work?
King: No, GMASS has not been paid for the work performed.
What is GMASS’s role in this process going forward in representing Chattooga?
King: GMASS will gladly help the county as needed by request.
Can the county as a whole appeal, what’s that process like?
King: The only appeal process that I am aware of is an individual appeal of your assessment notice.
Is there a process that would allow the BOA or GMASS to kick out this year’s assessments and go with something different?
King: Not that I am aware of.
Chattooga County had a record number of appeals submitted, will GMASS come and look at those or will the local BOA do that? Is there a timeframe on the appeals?
King: The BOA is responsible for all appeals, GMASS will gladly assist if needed by request.
Is there a law that states the BOA can’t go up on an assessment after they send them out?
King: Yes, OCGA 48-5-303, 48-5-306, and 48-5-311 restricts the BOA from increasing the original NOA. 48-5-299 restricts the appeal hearing boards in increasing the original notice.
In your opinion, what went wrong in Chattooga County?
King: Nothing went wrong.
Tammy Lea
September 14, 2023 at 2:06 am
Why did Chattooga County all of a sudden, decide to out source our assessment to to another party using software to assess the value of our property in the first place? This is totally different than in the past, is it not? I just had a assessor come out year before last and assess my property. So, according to this software . He could not have possible been able to see. Because my tax bill was assessed higher last year a tad, even though he told me it would probably be less because the shape my house is in. Then this year it doubled. I do not recall or being asked by anyone if I would rather I tax assessors use glass. I do see where many places use that but they are mostly larger cities. Not rural Chattooga County which has a lot of poor quality land. Low paying jobs, and many other problems. Also, is it true , that Chattooga County got fined 2 or 3 million dollars last year because the government or ruling authorities in Atlanta Georgia , look at our taxes during a audit or something and said , hey this can’t be right, Chattooga county is not paying enough taxes on this land? Yet, with government as usual, they have evidently not lived here and tried to have land with taxes like that. Question or comment 3 – we elect our tax commissioner , our County commissioner , our school board, and many other jobs or offices. One thing I noticed was everyone pointed their finger at thi one or that reason why this happened, as a previous voter I have been disappointed with these actions. For one, the well being and Finical well being of the citizens of this county should be the number one priority for all the elected officials. They should also all be working together to prevent things such as this from happening. The tax commission I would think if it’s true about the fine, would in the best interest of us which evidently , it must be, would be proactive and work toferger on problems that have, if our tax rate was low, their was probably a reason. I feel no one looked at previous tax commissioners work . Poverty is large and most of the county feel every person is suffering in some kind f