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Fulton County seeks court order for temporary tax bills after digest-processing backlog
Summary
County finance staff asked the commission to authorize a petition for a Temporary Collection Order to permit August billing while the 2026 tax digest remains incomplete because of unprocessed land packages; commissioners pressed staff to improve communications to cities and taxpayers and to model expected fiscal impacts.
Fulton County finance staff told commissioners on July 15 that the county must petition Superior Court for a Temporary Collection Order (TCO) so the tax commissioner can issue temporary tax bills while the county completes the 2026 digest.
County staff explained that a higher-than-normal number of "land packages" (changes such as land divisions or curb cuts) were not fully processed in the assessor's systems before submission, which prevented certification of the digest. To keep the tax-billing schedule on track for an Aug. 15 mailing and Oct. 15 due dates, the county attorney recommended seeking an immediate court order to authorize temporary billing; those temporary bills will be reconciled once the digest is finalized and millage rates are set.
County officials and the tax commissioner have notified taxing jurisdictions the county bills for, staff said; some jurisdictions that bill independently may need to take parallel action. Commissioners urged immediate and broad communications with cities, school systems and taxpayers, and several members asked finance staff for modeled estimates of the likely fiscal impact on each jurisdiction and on the county's cashflow.
Commissioner Ellis said the missed digest milestone was "unacceptable" and demanded aggressive corrective action and visibility into the digest timeline; Commissioner Thorne and others raised systems and vendor constraints (GIS/Esri user limits) and asked IT to add users and work with the assessor to clear the backlog.
The board approved the motion to seek the court order (vote recorded in the consent items), and staff said they will advertise the petition, seek a court hearing and then allow the tax commissioner to prepare temporary bills; property owners will receive final or supplemental bills once the digest is certified and final millage rates are set.
Outcome: Board approved authorization for the county attorney to petition Superior Court for a TCO; staff committed to immediate interjurisdictional communications and to provide impact estimates and timelines to commissioners.
