Judge Rules State Must Accept Fulton 2017 Tax Digest

JOHNS CREEK, GA — A DeKalb County Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of Fulton County in its petition for the state to approve its 2017 tax digest. Alan Harvey granted the county's petition for mandamus, which requires the Georgia Department of Revenue to approve Fulton's digest, the county said Friday.

“It would be harmful to Fulton County taxpayers for Fulton County to reissue tax assessments for 2017 as the costs of such action will be borne by Fulton County taxpayers," Judge Harvey said in the ruling handed down Thursday.

The state in October 2017 sent a letter to Fulton Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand stating that it can't approve the 2017 digest because it was based upon assessments that were either improperly issued, appeared to be "deficient" or "taxpayer appeal rights from those assessments appear to have been truncated."

Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said he was pleased with the judge's ruling, and is looking forward to putting the issue to rest.

"We remain fully committed to ensuring that the Fulton County tax system is fixed once and for all," Pitts said. "We are on a path to ensure that our property owners can have confidence in the assessment process and know that their property rights are protected."

The county notes it made $3.8 million in investments last year in its property tax system technology and staffing, and "undertook a major public outreach and communications campaign to ensure that residents are fully aware of their rights and responsibilities in the property tax process." Additional investments of $2.4 million are proposed for 2019, the county added.

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Georgia Department of Revenue spokesperson William Gaston said the agency has received the order and is reviewing the judge's decision with counsel.

Fulton argued in its petition that since its tax digest met state law requirements, the state had a "clear legal duty" to approve the digest. The Department of Revenue contended that the county and its Board of Tax Assessors should have issued "proper" assessments for the 2017 tax digest and "collect for any deficiencies to comply with the express terms of Georgia laws and regulations."

The judge rejected that claim, as state law does not give the commissioner the authority to mandate local entities to assess properties in a particular way. The office has the authority to collect back state taxes, cause unlisted properties to be assessed or collect a claim or obligation from any person that may be due to the state. There is no state revenue in question, the judge said.

"Here, revenue commissioner has concerns with the method of assessment, not that properties have failed to be listed in the tax digest that have not been assessed," Judge Harvey writes, adding the department has no standing to compel the county to assess properties in a certain manner.

He also argued that the state legislature has outlined laws the agency could use to address concerns about equalization and uniformity. The commissioner has the option of rejecting a digest reported to have "uniformity issues" in any given year. However, Judge Harvey's opinion notes that neither the revenue commissioner nor her predecessor have "promulgated rules and regulations, as the state statute requires, to give it effect."

"This alternative remedy is equally convenient, complete and beneficial to the revenue commissioner," Judge Harvey adds. "The fact that revenue commissioner has not established rules and regulations as required by the legislature, effective July 1, 2014, does not mean that the commissioner can contend that there is not appropriate remedy now."

Patch has reached out to the Georgia Department of Revenue to get its take on the judge's ruling.

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