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Paulding County appraisal office reports roughly 5% growth, warns floating homestead exemption and new notice format will delay mailed assessment notices
Summary
Chief appraiser James Stokes told commissioners the county's digest grew about 5% but programming changes to implement the statewide floating homestead exemption and a new assessment notice format are delaying notices; commissioners discussed differences among taxing authorities and outreach plans.
James Stokes, the county's chief appraisal official, told the Board of Commissioners on May 11 that Paulding County's real‑estate digest is up about 5% overall but that implementation of the statewide floating homestead exemption and changes to assessment notices are delaying the county's usual schedule for mailing annual notices of assessment.
Stokes said sales volume is down by about 1,000 transactions compared with the prior period and that approximately 30% of properties show declining values even as the county continues to grow. He said the statewide floating homestead exemption (voter-approved last year) and subsequent legislative fixes, plus local options to opt out, have created programming challenges for appraisal vendors and contributed to a delay in producing notices.
"We are way past" the office's usual March schedule for preliminary numbers, Stokes said, adding that most Georgia counties use the same appraisal software and that "computer programmers have been struggling" to make the exemption work with required options for governing authorities to opt out. He said the county hoped to mail annual assessment notices around May 30; the county's print vendor has requested extra lead time because multiple jurisdictions are sending updated files at once.
Stokes and commissioners clarified how the floating homestead exemption will interact with existing homestead exemptions and millage-setting: homestead exemptions reduce taxable value; in jurisdictions that accept the statewide floating homestead, the exemption will rise and fall with market values so the taxpayer's net taxable value could remain similar year to year even if market value changes. Stokes and a colleague also noted that the school board opted out of the statewide floating homestead, so school taxable values will continue to float with market changes.
Commissioners asked about public outreach; Stokes said the assessor's office will publish informational videos and has published explanatory material on the county website. Staff and commissioners warned that the Department of Revenue's new notice format will omit a tax estimate from the assessment notice, which they expect will generate public questions.
Stokes recommended continued communication with residents as the office finalizes and audits the new computations before submitting data to the printer.
