Gilmer County property owners can expect to see some type of increase in their county-assessed values this year.
The assessors office expected to have assessment notices for the year in the mail by Monday, May 24, said Chief Appraiser Theresa Gooch at a board of assessors meeting last week.
“We’ll be sending out approximately 33,527 assessment notices. This does not include public utilities and exempt properties. Public utilities get a notice at a different time of the year and exempt properties do not get notices,” added Gooch.
Values in several categories of real property reviewed for the forthcoming tax digest have been increased from the previous year.
Residential property is up almost 19 percent from last year, while commercial property values are up around 18 percent, Gooch told board members Gary Engel, Bill Logan. Jerry Davis, John Williamson and Tom Porter. Agricultural property values have increased by around 15 percent since last year, while industrial properties are up 18 percent, she added.
The entire gross digest figure is up nearly 15 percent from last year.
The numbers are preliminary, as no appeals have been filed yet, Gooch noted.
“We’ll work our way through the appeal period and have another consolidation that we’ll look at at digest submission time,” she added.
At the assessor board’s April meeting, Gooch told board members that higher prices are being paid for homes and other property in the county, and assessed property values would be going up in order for the county’s values to remain in compliance with standards set by the State Department of Revenue. Also at that April meeting, Gooch described the current housing market in Gilmer as “an accelerated market with a lot of inflationary to it.”
“As we’ve talked about in previous meetings, everyone knows that these property values were going to have to change based on the amount of sales and the price difference between our fair market values and what these properties are selling for” said Gooch at the May meeting.
“We’ve brought all of our categories back into compliance again,” she noted.
Property owners will be able to file appeals online this year, as well as in person or by mail.
“They’ll search their individual property and there will be a button there for them to click and it will walk them through the appeal process,” Gooch said about the new online appeal option.
“It’s going to (help) that property owner look for comparables. That way they can see comparable properties and sales to make up their mind on whether or not they want to actually file the appeal.”
The last day to file an appeal will be July 8.
“We’ll take them in person and by mail up until the deadline,” Gooch said.