One of two outstanding property appeals the Gilmer County Assessors Office has left for 2021 will head to Superior Court, and it’s from one of the county’s biggest retailers.
When meeting Thursday, April 21, the Gilmer Board of Assessors certified the property value appeal, which was filed by Walmart Real Estate Business Trust for the East Ellijay Walmart location, going to Superior Court for hearing.
The county-assessed value of the property is $11.33 million, which includes the store and 21 acres. It was valued at $9 million in 2020, but at $10.1 million in 2019 and $10.8 million in 2018.
Chief Appraiser Theresa Gooch said the $9 million 2020 value was set by a hearing officer’s decision, and several factors since Jan. 1, 2020, have contributed to the value increase.
“The underlying land value was adjusted to reflect the current market. The structure on the parcel was remodeled in 2020, (and) there were corrections to the accessory structure,” she added.
A board of equalization hearing for the East Ellijay Walmart property was held in January. The board’s hearing officer ruled in favor of the county, deciding $11.33 million is fair market value for the property.
The other remaining appeal, filed by the nonprofit Southern Conservation Trust LLC, is a question of taxability, said Gooch.
Southern Conservation Trust, based in Fayette County, owns property throughout the state and has filed appeals on the same grounds in other Georgia counties, she noted.
“In Henry County, the Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the Henry County Board of Assessors and held that the property owned by Southern Conservation Trust LLC was taxable,” Gooch said. “(They have) appealed that decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals.”
Property the organization owns in Gilmer County is nearly identical to the land that was appealed in Henry County, Gooch noted.
In other news...
Assessor board members Bill Logan, Jerry Davis, Gary Engel, John Williamson and Tom Porter denied an exempt property request filed by Shady Grove Baptist Church for a cemetery.
The church on Highway 136 didn’t own the land until Jan. 6, and needed to have owned it by Jan. 1 for the tax exemption to take effect this year, noted Gooch.
James Priest, who attended the meeting to represent the church, said they didn’t have full possession of the property by Jan. 1 because “the lawyer had COVID,” and the church couldn’t close on it. Priest said he understood the Jan. 1 cutoff date, but asked if the assessors office could hold onto the application and consider it for next year.
“I think that you have to reapply next year. We can’t approve this year for next year,” said Logan, the board’s chairman.
Logan asked Priest whether the acreage has been cleared to be used as a cemetery. Priest said it had not, and the church would probably have to go before the planning commission before doing that.
“There is an exemption under the law for a cemetery, but you can’t take raw land and say it’s a cemetery. You at least need to make some preparation,” said Logan. “All the timber is still standing. There’s nothing disturbed. There’s nothing, other than on your paperwork it says a cemetery.”
Priest made the board chuckle with his response.
“We’ve got to wait for somebody to die before we bury them,” he said.
Gooch said the cemetery property will have to be rezoned as PI (public/institutional), like the rest of the church property.
“It needs to be in planning and zoning as a cemetery. That’s the real key to it. Your ownership plus that would probably be adequate to get through this board,” added Porter.
The assessor board did approve two other tax exempt property applications — one for real property used by Good Samaritan Catholic Church for offices and various religious purposes and another for personal property owned by Paws and Claws Thrift and Gift.