Tax bills to go out; complaints likely to follow

As Athens residents file their last-minute income tax returns today, there's also another kind of tax to start thinking about - property tax.

Athens-Clarke tax assessors could begin mailing out new property assessments within the next two weeks, and many homeowners may not like what they see.

Home values in Athens are not in free-fall the way they are in many metro Atlanta communities and elsewhere, Deputy Chief Assessor Kirk Dunagan said. That means most homeowners won't get a break on their bills this fall because of the mortgage crisis and rampant foreclosures nationwide.

"The economy has really slowed down the growth in Athens-Clarke County, but we're not really seeing the prices decline," Dunagan said. "Things are leveling off, but we're not really seeing that tremendous dip in value."

Assessors have found that homes are remaining on the market longer and new construction has slowed, but existing houses in many Athens neighborhoods are holding their values, he said.

"We have some areas where we've had to reduce values," he said. "We have some where the values have gone up."

Bills actually will be higher this fall because the state legislature voted to end grants to cities, counties and school districts that partially offset property taxes for homeowners, unless revenue rises unexpectedly. The grants are worth $263.20 per homeowner in Clarke County.

Local governments will be faced with the choice of passing the cost on to homeowners or cutting spending - $1.8 million in Athens-Clarke County's case - to make up the difference.

"We're looking at having to either eliminate services or reduce services," Mayor Heidi Davison said.

Many taxpayers are fine with that, said state Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens. They will accept cuts to services like police, parks and schools if it means their bills are lower, he said.

"I think you'll hear, 'I don't want all the services you're giving me,' " he said. " 'I want to pay less taxes.' "

An increasing number of homeowners believe their houses' tax values are inflated. Property owners filed 1,275 property tax returns - documents that let assessors know what the property owner thinks the property is worth - by the March 1 deadline, Dunagan said. That's about twice the number who usually file returns, he said.

The legislature also approved a two-year freeze on rising home assessments, although assessors still can lower values during that time. Gov. Sonny Perdue has not signed that bill yet, and local officials are unsure how it would affect Athens, Dunagan said. The county assessor's office usually mails out assessments in late April, but may wait this year, he said.

The assessment freeze and losing the homeowners' tax relief grants for the 2010 fiscal year, starting in July, will hit already-struggling local governments even harder. After years of growth in the 5 percent to 10 percent range, next year's county budget will grow only about 2 percent, Athens-Clarke Finance Director John Culpepper said.

The Clarke County School District is proposing cutting 25 teachers and 59 parapros, furloughing non-teachers and other cost-cutting measures to meet a projected $9 million deficit in fiscal 2010.

School officials expect their property tax revenue to hold steady at $68 million, including both new construction and changes to existing properties' values.