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ZEBULON - The Board of Assessors met on May 21, 2024 to hold their regular bi-monthly meeting. Several items of importance were discussed, but the biggest item was the decision on 2024 values for residential property.

Pike County residents are currently based on a sales ratio that is $91 per square foot for residential property. Chief Appraiser Greg Hobbs recommended going up to $98 per square foot this year since the current sales ratio is at 35% and below the state’s recommended 36%. The Board of Assessors voted in a majority vote of 3-2 to leave the value at $91 and raise it next year because next year will be a review year from the Georgia Department of Revenue.

[Note from the Editor added 6.4.24: I was contacted by a member of the Board of Assessors who emphasized that the question of whether the Board of Education would be forced to keep their budget at 14 mills by the State of Georgia (to keep their QBE) played heavily into this decision to keep the sales ratio at $91 per square foot. (This was an issue last year because the school system could not roll back under 14 mills or they would lose their QBE funding from the state.) He said that they left the sales ratio where it was in order to try and avoid another excessive increase in property taxes on the Board of Education part of county taxes to try to avoid a raise above their actual budget because the Board of Assessors did not have a straight answer on whether this requirement for 14 mills had been changed or not. Read more about QBE at https://scsc.georgia.gov/document/document/nsostatefundingandschooldistrictaccountingpdf/download.]

The county was penalized on January 9, 2024 because Pike County’s 2022 Tax Digest had been examined and that the valuations of property in Pike County set by the Board of Assessors were “not uniform and equalized” and also cited failed assessments in 2019 and 2022 that were not between 36 and 44% of the assessed values on property as is required by the state.

The Pike County Board of Commissioners asked for a review of the Board of Assessors and appealed the $48,645 penalty from the state. Pike County still has not received the state review of the Board of Assessors that was conducted back in March and promised to be returned in 30 days.

As things stand now, citizens should be receiving their assessments in the near future with last year’s millage rate on them. The millage rate has not been set by the Pike County Board of Commissioners. That will occur after the budget is set by the end of this month.

Readers can read more about the discussion from the May 21, 2024 meeting of the Board of Assessors by clicking here: http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/taxassessor5.21.24.html.

There are links to past meetings and the article about the review by the State Department of Revenue at the bottom of the May 21, 2024 Tax Assessor Meeting page.