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Fannin County delegates authority to tax commissioner to waive penalties and interest through 2029
Summary
The Fannin County Board adopted a resolution delegating authority to Tax Commissioner Julie Walker to waive penalties and interest in specified circumstances until Jan. 1, 2029, citing state statutes authorizing delegation for reasonable-cause cases.
The Fannin County Board of Commissioners voted to delegate to the county tax commissioner the authority to waive penalties and interest assessed for late tax payments or late filings, under provisions of state law. Julie Walker, identified in the meeting as Fannin County Tax Commissioner, read the resolution aloud and commissioners approved it on the record.
The resolution cites multiple sections of the Georgia Code (OCGA) as the legal basis for the delegation, including OCGA 48-2-4; OCGA 48-2-44(b); OCGA 48-5-18; OCGA 48-2-40; and OCGA 48-5-242. The text presented to the board states the waiver authority applies when a taxpayer’s failure to comply was due to "reasonable cause" and not to gross or willful neglect or disregard of the law. The resolution sets the waiver authority’s effective period through Jan. 1, 2029; penalties and interest will resume accruing on unpaid balances after that date.
Why it matters: delegating waiver authority to the tax commissioner lets the county handle penalty/interest relief administratively in individual cases — for example, when delays are due to reasonable cause — without returning to the governing body for each waiver. Taxpayers who missed deadlines because of reasonable causes may seek relief under the delegated authority.
Vote and procedure: After Walker read the resolution, a commissioner moved to adopt it; the motion was seconded and recorded as passed with an "aye" vote by commissioners present.
Clerk’s note and public comment: During public comment earlier in the meeting, a resident praised the county’s tax office for collection performance, noting collection rates near 90% for the most recent billings and 99% collection rates for 2022 and 2023. That comment was delivered publicly but was not part of the resolution discussion.
Statutory citations and limits: The resolution’s text, as read aloud, references the OCGA sections above and repeats the statutory limitation that waivers are authorized only where failure to pay or file was due to reasonable cause rather than willful neglect.
What’s next: The resolution took effect on passage; taxpayers seeking penalty/interest relief should contact the Tax Commissioner’s office for procedures under the delegated authority.
