June 15, 2017

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Today, the Board of Assessors (BOA) refused to rescind the 2017 property tax appraisals.  Members of the Milton Coalition attended the BOA meeting and Tim Becker spoke.  The meeting was held at Fulton County’s Assembly Hall and began at 12:30 pm.  The meeting began with 5 minute speeches by 3 elected representatives:  Fulton County Commission Chair John Eaves, Vice Chair Bob Ellis, and State Senator John Albers.  All three representatives urged the BOA to rescind the 2017 appraisals.  Commissioner Ellis gave an excellent and spirited speech.  However, State Senator Albers brought down the house.  He really blasted the BOA.  (Note:  From Day 1, Mr. Albers has strongly and unequivocally denounced the tax hike).  During public comment, Milton Mayor Lockwood was the first speaker.  He discussed Milton’s strong letter and resolution against the tax hike sent to the BOA.  A big thanks to Mayor Lockwood.  Milton District 2 Councilman Kunz also spoke.

Following is the Channel 2 Action News story on the BOA meeting:

Channel 2 Action News: BOA Upholds 2017 Tax Appraisals

During public comment, thirty-two speakers spoke against the arbitrary and inflated 2017 appraisals.  Public comment lasted over an hour.  Some of the remarks from citizens were heartbreaking.  The proposed tax hike is hitting some of our most vulnerable citizens the hardest.  It should be noted that originally the BOA did not even want to allow public comment.  However, they finally relented after intense public pressure.  And that insensitivity was on clear display throughout the BOA meeting.

Once public comment was completed, one BOA member RJ Morris (the only member of the BOA who has consistently sided with citizens) made a motion to discuss and vote on whether the tax appraisals should be rescinded.  This motion did not receive a second, so it died.  At this point, the Milton Coalition knew the 2017 tax appraisals would be upheld.  By keeping the tax appraisal discussion at the end of their agenda, the BOA members signaled that they would be voting not to rescind.  The BOA knew that most citizens would not sit through several hours of the BOA’s disposition of numerous other agenda items.  The BOA wanted to approve the 2017 tax digest without many citizens present; they are cowards.  The failure to move the tax digest agenda item was blatantly disrespectful to citizens (many of whom took time off from work and family), who would have liked to listen to deliberations over the tax hike.  (We have seen this tactic at a Milton City Council meeting when Council Member Bill Lusk pushed a texting agenda item to the end of a city council meeting when he knew the public would mostly have left.)

At the very end of the meeting, the BOA declined to rescind the 2017 tax appraisals, claiming they did not have the legal authority to do so.  This is an excuse.  As we have watched this property tax fiasco unfold, it has become very clear that the BOA was not disposed toward a rescission.  And the outcry from citizens only seemed to make BOA members dig in their heels.  We suspect there is a political back story here that will require some digging to uncover.

Citizens, at this point, we recommend that you:

• File your appeal. Please consult our previous posts on how to accomplish this.  We want to flood the Tax Assessors with appeals.  If >8% of citizens appeal, the appraisal issue will be remanded to Superior Court and perhaps we can get some justice there.
• File an open records request to get the analysis used to determine your home’s valuation. This will not only help you with your appeal, it will further burden the Tax Assessment office with citizen requests that hopefully will overwhelm them.  Under Georgia’s Open Records Act, your request should be fulfilled within 3 business days.  If it cannot be fulfilled within 3 days, then the Tax Assessment office is required to provide a timeline for fulfilling your request and fulfillment must occur within 10 days.
• Attend State Senator John Albers’ meeting in Roswell on June 19^th. He has some ideas for reigning in Fulton County through legislative action.
• Continue to visit our blog for updates.
• Continue to stay engaged in your local government. Don’t be discouraged.  Citizen engagement does makes a positive difference.  We get the government we deserve.

Thanks to all of you citizens that have marched down by the many hundreds to town hall meetings and to the BOA meeting.  Thanks for stepping up and speaking up.  And thanks for your kind words of support.  It has been a pleasure assisting you.  Good governance is a team sport.  We need all the help we can get from ordinary citizens like you.

Advocating For You,

Tim Becker

The Milton Coalition – Advocating for clean, competent, courageous, and citizen-centric government