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Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

Today last chance for Bibb residents to file appeal on new property values

Bibb County residents who still want to contest their new property values have a few hours left to do so.

The deadline to turn in appeals to the Macon-Bibb County Board of Tax Assessors office — or have them postmarked — is today.

More than 10,300 appeals have been filed so far, Macon-Bibb Chief Appraiser Andrea Crutchfield said. That represents about 15 percent of the 68,000 parcels in Bibb County.

The volume and value of properties under appeal currently exceed state standards for submitting the tax digest to the Department of Revenue for approval, Crutchfield said.

Bibb must have less than 5 percent of the tax digest’s total value or fewer than 5 percent of the total number of parcels under appeal before the digest can be submitted.

The tax assessors now must work to whittle down the number or value of appeals to an acceptable level. If that’s not done in a timely manner, the county may have to seek approval to use a temporary tax digest and issue a temporary billing. “We will begin to work on them immediately,” Crutchfield said.

The earliest that assessors will be able to make value changes or certify appeals to the next level will be at their July 15 meeting.

Assessors have planned for a large number of appeals.

They have five Boards of Equalization — the maximum number allowed for a county Bibb’s size — in waiting. Those boards, independent bodies made up of three people that hear appeals, can work about 3,200 appeals per month, Bill Vaughn, chairman of the Macon-Bibb County Board of Tax Assessors, has said. Crutchfield has been reluctant to say whether she thought fewer appeals would be filed this year than in 2006. That revaluation generated more than 18,000 appeals and was eventually thrown out. There were about 8,000 appeals in 2001, the year of the last successful countywide property revaluation.

To contact writer Jennifer Burk, call 744-4345.