June 4, 2017

Friday’s blog post addressed Fulton County’s huge hike in property taxes for many Milton residents.  Fulton County’s government is receiving a tremendous blowback from Milton and other North Fulton residents.  Town hall meetings have been scheduled by North Fulton’s two county commissioners, Liz Hausmann and Bob Ellis.  Both commissioners seem to be playing catch-up on this issue.  Did they not realize that voters would be upset by tax appraisals that increased by over 50% for many neighborhoods in Milton (and elsewhere in North Fulton)?  Or were they unaware of the assessments, (but should have been)?  These are key questions for the town hall meetings.  And residents will also need to understand what specific actions our commissioners will take to address the spike in taxes.

Hopefully, the commissioners are going to 1) acknowledge that there are obviously problems in Fulton’s tax assessment office and 2) seek an independent investigation into the situation.  And it would seem that the county should revert to 2016 assessments pending the outcome of such an investigation.  Rather than citizens filing hundreds (and perhaps thousands) of appeals that will clog up the Fulton County Assessor’s office, Fulton County needs to address this issue from the top down.  If the commissioners do not have good answers and specific solutions, these town hall meetings are going to be quite unpleasant for all concerned.  Defending the indefensible would be a bad strategy for Ms. Hausmann and Mr. Ellis.  Rather, they need to step up, advocate for their constituents, and get to the bottom of this debacle.