Lawyers challenge A-C on taxes

Several Athens lawyers are accusing the Athens-Clarke government of violating state law by raising the tax values of thousands of properties this year, despite a statute banning most counties from increasing their estimates of how much someone's land is worth.

Athens-Clarke officials say a law the state legislature passed last year that caps property values does not apply to them, a decision they based on a loophole in the law exempting any county that assesses the value of every parcel of land in the county this year.

Assessors say they reassess every parcel in Clarke County every year. But the law firm Hudson and Montgomery is challenging that assertion, claiming in court documents that the government does not really do a countywide revaluation.

"They don't look at all the parcels," said Regina Quick, a lawyer involved in another tax appeal. "They'd have to revalue them all down if they did that. It defies logic."

The issue hinges on how a countywide revaluation is defined.

The law temporarily capping assessments does not say. A state Department of Revenue regulation says any county that contracted with an outside firm by Feb. 28 to do a reassessment is exempt from the moratorium. So is any county where tax assessors took "official action" to conduct a countywide revaluation by Jan. 1.

The loophole closes next year, so Athens-Clarke County will not be exempt no matter what. The law expires in 2011, when counties can raise property values again.

Athens-Clarke assessors raised the taxable value of about 3,000 of the county's 42,000 properties this year and lowered the values of about 4,000 - numbers that conservative activists are suspicious of, given the economic downturn.

Fewer than half the number of properties changed in value in 2008 than in a typical year, something Assistant Chief Appraiser Kirk Dunagan attributes to few sales in a slow real estate market. Assessors say most houses and businesses in Athens are holding their value because the real estate crash did not hit Athens as hard as Atlanta or other communities.

While the economy in Athens is far from good, the city has seen fewer job losses and foreclosures than many other places.

Unlike many counties, Athens-Clarke County examines every parcel and every neighborhood every year, even if assessors decide their is no evidence to change values, Dunagan and County Attorney Bill Berryman said.

"It's just something that's always been done," Dunagan said. "That's just our normal course of business."

The policy is in place so property owners do not pay less than their fair share for years, then see a massive jump when assessors finally get