WILKINSON COUNTY, Ga. — Being a business or homeowner comes with its share of headaches and expenses.
However, Charles Smith says the math wasn’t adding up in his new property tax assessment, leaving him dazed.
“Shocked! I didn’t want to say that, but I was shocked! What had happened, you know,” he said.
For the past 16 years, Smith's business property in Toomsboro in Wilkinson County has been valued at around $47,000. However, in 2022, he says that the county raised that by more than $100,000.
He says he still doesn't know why.
“They had a lot of stuff listed on here that's not even on here,” Smith said.
He says his property tax assessment stated he had a commercial well and septic tank on his property. Smith says those don’t exist.
“The pole barn back there, they had it a lot wider and longer than it actually is,” Smith explained. “The only picture of my assessment on QPublic, you’ll look, is one shot from the road.”
Smith isn't alone, either.
About 150 other folks saw their property values increase and say the county added assets they didn't have.
With that, the property owners face a higher property tax bill, since property taxes are based on the value of a person's property.
Now, in court filings, Smith is one of over 100 folks going to court to remove the board of tax assessors just to get an answer.
He says they also noticed that some building values did not increase as much, even with similar sizes and zones.
“If you look on QPublic and look around– some of the values on some of the properties have not increased near as much. I know that they have more than I have as far as shop area and things like that,” Smith explained. “Theirs’ goes up and mine goes up, I wouldn’t feel as bad about it, but when mine has, and theirs’ hasn’t, it kind of upsets you.”
Smith says people started attending tax assessor meetings to find answers.
“The first one I went to, they actually had to move the meeting three times, I think, to get into a bigger room to fit all the people that was there,” he said.
Smith says you have to be put on the board's agenda to even ask a question. For those that did make it, he says the board’s answers were vague.
“Not very talkative about what's going on,” he said.
Smith says many folks, including himself, have appealed their valuations. He says on his first appeal, his property value was brought down from $150,000 to $95,000. He filed another appeal, and like the others, he says he's still been left with no answers.
“I mean, it's affecting us, the public here. I know of another business in the county that's actually shut down because they can’t afford it, and I have debated the thought myself. Just get out of it altogether,” he explained.
With the lack of answers from the board of accessors, it makes them feel like they are shouting into the void.
“I've always paid my taxes, never had an issue. That's all we're asking for is answers and you can't get them,” he said.
The taxpayers group also argues assessors are violating state open-records and open-meetings laws, and discriminating against certain groups of property owners.
The tax office directed us to Wilkinson County Attorney Benjamin Vaughn.
He didn’t return our phone calls.
In court filings, the attorneys for the Wilkinson County property owners argue the County Board of Accessors inconsistently valued properties which, under Georgia law, can be grounds for removing members of the board from office.
They also argue that their inconsistent assessments violate Georgia's Constitution, which stipulates "all taxation shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects.”
They also argue that the board violated Georgia's open meetings law. In their filings, they alleged that there is no record of the board hiring Chief Appraiser Romona Viafale in an open meeting. They also claim the board made decisions on property appeals without meeting.
In order for the property owners to oust the members of the board, a judge will have to agree with them on their claims.
Some property owners in Wilkinson County had previously filed a similar complaint seeking to oust the Board of Tax Accessors, but the case was dismissed because they didn't have the 100 property owners they needed.
In the more recent filing, they now past the threshold.