Lanier County Chief Appraiser resigns Amidst Questions about Appraisals and Unusually High Tax Hikes
By Carol A. Gasser Moore
LANIER COUNTY, Georgia – Lanier County Chief Tax Appraiser, Jessica Holbrook, has apparently resigned. Details of her resignation have not been released.
Recently the Lanier County Tax Assessor’s Office has come to the attention of Lanier County property owners when the office assessed and billed a 30+% for the 2023 year. The decision has brought a strong outcry from Lanier County property owners, who have until July 8 to file appeals on their assessments.
The decision to push ahead for an inordinately high tax increase ahead of the November General Election ballot on which voters would approve House Bill 581. Both the Georgia House and Senate have approved the bill which caps how much home assessments can go up each year. The bill is designed to limit the rate of in a Georgia General Assembly effort to limit property tax increases to a more manageable amount.
The timing of this radical tax hike has suggested to local citizens that after not increasing property taxes for over 15+ years and taking on new county projects without earlier planning or funding, the Lanier County Board of Commissioners is forcing citizens to fund their projects before the voters can approve the HB 581 cap and vote on it. If approved, the cap for property tax increases would be 4% per year.
According to information from the Georgia General Assembly, a homeowner’s property tax bill is mostly made up of the tax rate and the assessed value of the property.
The proverbial grapevine of information seems to indicate that Holbrook had already been looking for other work for awhile. The same grapevine suggests that she has taken a new appraiser position with the State of Georgia. At this point, this information seems to “out there”, but is unconfirmed at this point.
Interesting key job specific duties for the Chief Appraiser include:
- Directs the operation of the Tax Assessors’ Office to achieve goals established by the Board of Tax Assessors.
- Develops, plans and implements procedures for timely valuation of real and personal property.
- Approve pricing schedules and monitors implementation to ensure appraisals are within the parameters established by the Department of Revenue.
- Assists the public with Questions on property valuations and related tax questions.
A completely list of job duties can be found on-line by going to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/137038933755197/.
It’s not Ms.Holbrook’s fault that the taxes have suddenly made this ridiculous jump, it’s in the hands of the County Commission and Board of Education. They set the rate and taxes jump accordingly. The fact that the property appraisals haven’t been done for almost 20 years also falls on the BoC. Most have served during this period and know this update should have been done years ago. Ms. Holbrook is just doing her job, yet she’s the one catching the flack for something she has no control over. It’s a shame to lose a good servant of the county. Board of Commissioners, Board of Education, step up and take ownership of this unfair process! It’s funny how this comes to light just AFTER the election. Remember who you work for.
You are absolutely correct! Ultimately, the long-time Lanier County Board of Commissioners make the decision to either raise rates or lower them. They have been re-elected repeatedly on ‘keeping taxes low’ and now that they have a need, the blame on Holbrook and others is placed!
In the psychology field, the approach seems related to the victim/rescuer approach. In this instance, the Lanier Tax Appraiser’s Office and BOC blame the state when in fact the LCN has learned that well prior to the HB 581 which will come up before voters in November, the intent by the Georgia Department of Revenue states through an Attorney General’s ruling that property taxes are to be reviewed annually and adjusted annually.
The Lanier County Board of Commissioners are not doing their jobs when they let annually mandated department/agency duties are held back from getting their designated job responsibilities done. They should not have let Tax Assessor duties slide for almost 2 decades. They should have demanded and required the annual reviews … because they are mandated and because citizens shouldn’t get caught in the tax problems as they now experience them! It’s just good management.
The answer in the case is to communicate to the governor’s office as suggested by the LCN and VOTE THE CURRENT MEMBERS OF THE LANIER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OUT!