06/25/2024
Good information and a hot topic….call me if you have any questions.
Fulton County Government recently sent out its annual assessment notices to property owners – including those here in Milton. While our City doesn’t handle these assessments or the notices, we do recognize that they inevitably raise pertinent questions – including as they relate to City of Milton property taxes.
Each Property Assessment Notice includes a dollar figure for Milton municipal taxes. This does NOT equate to what a homeowner actually will pay in City taxes. That’s because the County’s assessment notices do not reflect the exemptions of Milton and other cities (since the County doesn’t track Milton municipal exemptions by parcel). Plus, floating homestead exemptions can cap the annual increase in taxable value at 3% per year or CPI, whichever is less.
More context, and more specific answers, can be found below. Before digging into those, it’s important to note that the notices you’re receiving reflect Fulton County’s initial assessment of a given property’s value. It’s “initial” because the property owner can appeal that assessment, at which point it could be changed. And this assessment – even after it is finalized – is NOT a tax bill.
WHAT AGENCY HANDLES PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS IN GEORGIA?
State of Georgia law dictates that county governments assess a property’s value and must send out an assessment notice each year to property owners.
In Milton, this responsibility belongs to the Fulton County Board of Assessors, which is part of Fulton County’s government. The notices typically go out in June of every year. It’s true that the final assessment determination could affect what you’ll pay in property taxes both to Fulton County and the City of Milton. Yet the City of Milton has no role in how property assessments are valued, or in the distribution of notices.
HOW DO THE ASSESSMENTS WORK?
The County assessments take into account factors such as a property’s location, its square footage, certain upgrades, and comparisons to recent nearby home sales. To the latter point, the local real estate market can impact an assessment even if nothing else about the property has changed from year-to-year.
CAN I ACCESS MY ASSESSMENT ONLINE?
Yes. Fulton County encourages people to review their notices online at https://fultonassessor.org/. You can file your appeal via the same website.
CAN I CHALLENGE FULTON COUNTY’S ASSESSED VALUE OF MY PROPERTY – AND, IF SO, HOW?
Yes. If you believe the assessed value of your property is not fair or correct, you can appeal it to the Fulton County Board of Assessors. (Note that you can appeal the assessed value, not the tax you might pay based on that value.) You have 45 days from when the assessments are issued to file an appeal; the exact deadline to do so should be stated on the notice (either the paper or online versions), but generally it will be late July or early August.
You can file your appeal online at https://fultonassessor.org/, by mail, or at certain county facilities. For a list and more information, go to https://www.fultoncountyga.gov/inside-fulton-county/fulton-county-departments/board-of-assessors/appealing-your-assessment.
CAN EXEMPTIONS LOWER PROPERTY TAXES?
Yes. This is true for property taxes levied through Fulton County AND the City of Milton.
You can learn about exemptions for Fulton County property owners via these links: https://www.fultoncountyga.gov/inside-fulton-county/fulton-county-departments/board-of-assessors/homestead-exemptions and https://fultonassessor.org/exemptions/. As of April 2024, these include a new $10,000 homestead exemption for Fulton County homeowners who are over age 65 and live outside the City of Atlanta related to the Fulton County Schools portion of property taxes.
The City of Milton offers several exemptions that can impact what homeowners pay in municipal property taxes. You can learn about those at https://www.miltonga.gov/government/finance/property-taxes/senior-homestead-exemption.
SHOULD I USE WHAT’S ON THE COUNTY PROPERTY ASSESSMENT NOTICE TO DETERMINE MY CITY OF MILTON TAXES?
No.
Granted, the County’s assessment of a property’s value – once it’s finalized after the appeals process – can impact municipal taxes. But there are various reasons that what’s on the County notice with regards to City of Milton taxes does not equate to what you’ll pay in property taxes. That’s because the notices don’t account for factors such as:
1. Current City of Milton property tax exemptions, again as detailed here: https://www.miltonga.gov/government/finance/property-taxes/senior-homestead-exemption
2. The cap on how much one’s property taxes can go up year-over-year (regardless of how much their assessed property value may have risen) for those with a floating homestead exemption.
3. Milton’s Mayor and City Council haven’t approved a millage rate yet for the coming fiscal year. This should happen later this summer.
The City has a separate bond millage rate that may not be mentioned in the County assessment notice.
After the appeals process is complete, the Fulton County Board of Assessors will finalize all property assessments and send a certified digest to the City of Milton. The millage rate for City property taxes (that, again, will be approved later this summer) will be applied to those values. The City of Milton’s tax bills will be mailed out soon after October 1, 2024 – which corresponds to the start of Fiscal Year 2025 in Milton.
