The Habersham County Board of Tax Assessors approved the county’s gross tax digest on Monday. This means that the total value of all properties in the tax jurisdiction have been calculated before exemptions. The net tax digest, which includes the total value of properties after calculating exempt properties and exemptions, has yet to be completed.
Kelly McCormick of McCormick & Associates, who oversaw the property reassessment process, estimated that the net digest will total $2.1 billion compared to last year’s $1.9 billion. This means that exemptions have increased by $223 million.
“If you do the percentage of increase in your exemptions, you are chasing your tail and catching your tail,” he said.
Roughly 5% of the net digest is real growth, not inflationary growth. “That means that the powers that be won’t have to roll back for that amount, and that will be tax money that they can take in new even if they roll their millage rates all the way back,” McCormick said.
Homestead exemptions buffer homeowners from 17% value increase
During a special called meeting Monday, McCormick reported that property values would increase by 17.33% in Habersham. Current values add up to just under $5 billion, which is a $739 million increase from the previous year’s value of $4.26 billion.
McCormick sought to reassure residents that those with homestead exemptions will be largely shielded from the impact of rising assessments, as their taxable property values are frozen under exemption rules.
“The average went up 17%, but you can have scenarios where one person’s value went up a whole lot, but they’re paying on the same value because they have the [homestead] exemption,” he said. “Another person’s value didn’t go up as much, but they don’t have the exemption, and their tax bill actually increases while the former person’s value decreases.”
Board of Tax Assessors Chairman Bill Terry reminded the public that the board and tax office are responsible only for Fair Market Value when calculating property values. “Your taxes will be based on your exemptions, irrespective of what your Fair Market Value is,” he said.
Other property value types see increase
Agricultural property values saw the biggest change among the digest classes. In total, the properties rose from $133 million to $177 million, a 32.81% increase.
McCormick attributed this rise in values to the lack of field checks, which he said was a statewide issue. “It’s hard to send people out because they can only get so many done a day,” he said. Agricultural land as a whole was undervalued, he added.
Conservation use (CUV) properties were brought up along with agricultural properties, due to the two values including similar property types. CUV values increased by 20.25%, but McCormick noted that a majority of the value will not be billed.
“Those properties can only go up by 3% because of the Conservation Use Agreement caps,” he said.
McCormick expects to receive appeals from property owners to reevaluate their property if it is perceived to be overvalued or undervalued, which he notes as an important process of the reassessment.
“The goal is to make sure that the people coming into the office leave educated,” he said. “They don’t have to leave happy, but I want them to leave calm.”
Background and reassessment efforts
The reassessment project follows a state review of Habersham County’s tax procedures, which identified miscommunications, calculation errors, and concerns that commercial properties were undervalued.
In response, the county contracted McCormick & Associates in 2023 for a $1.1 million, three-year project to reappraise residential, commercial, and industrial properties.
Preliminary figures released last summer indicated a 12% increase in property value growth across all categories. Revenue from industrial property was projected at $1.4 million, and commercial property at $3.7 million—up from $1.4 million and $3.3 million, respectively, the previous year.
Chief Appraiser Joan Church said that tax notices should be sent to the printing vendor on Wednesday, July 16. The notices will be sent out to residents during the following week.
