{"id":12863,"date":"2015-04-13T05:15:13","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T09:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=12863"},"modified":"2015-04-13T05:25:54","modified_gmt":"2015-04-13T09:25:54","slug":"county-revenue-and-property-tax-appeals-craig-cardella-lcc-2015-03-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2015\/04\/county-revenue-and-property-tax-appeals-craig-cardella-lcc-2015-03-24.html","title":{"rendered":"County revenue and property tax appeals –Craig Cardella @ LCC 2015-03-24"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\"9.<\/a>\r\nA local citizen got cut off just as he said the county attorney’s\r\nopinion was he could interpret state law about property taxes however he wished,\r\nin the\r\n\r\n24 March 2015 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n9. Citizens Wishing to be Heard-Please State Your Name and Address\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nVideo.<\/a>\r\nCraig Cardella’s concern was that the County Commission does not have enough money\r\nto do things that are important to the community.\r\nHe said he had given a similar talk to Valdosta Mayor and Council recently.\r\nHe said he had been a city manager in the past, and had worked in and around\r\nlocal government nearly all his career.\r\n

\r\nIn 2009 GA State Senate authorized\r\n\r\n Property Tax Assessment and Appeal Committee (PTAA).\r\nCommittee concluded during hearings over summer of 2009\r\nthat current appeals laws are neither transparent or fair,\r\nand not taxpayer friendly.\r\nResult was\r\n\r\nSB 346: Ad Valorem Taxes; revise comprehensive provisions<\/a>.\r\nHowever, he said little has changed, and only about 10% of appeals\r\nin Lowndes County have outcomes favorable to the appealing taxpayers.\r\nAlso the Board of Equalization (BoE), which he was recently appointed to,\r\noften don’t know the details of cases.\r\nPlus BoE attends same training as Tax Assessors, which leads to\r\nconfusion of roles and lessened independence.\r\n

\r\n

\r\nSo the question came: who’s really judging the assesment disputes?\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nLaw requires consideration of income, but he said that gets ignored\r\nwith a wink and a nod, with GA Dept. of Revenue and\r\nlocal assessors calling the law “intrusion”.\r\nLongstanding concern of assessors cherry-picking comparables\r\nto defeat an appeal.\r\n\r\nHB 954: Ad valorem tax; property; change definition of fair market value<\/a>\r\nwas passed last year with intent to require tax assessors to obey \r\nSB 346.\r\n

\r\nAs with Senate Bill 346, tax assessors in Lowndes County ignored the new law\r\nMr. Elliott claims the county is not required to value property,\r\nexcept as he thinks the intent of the law requires.\r\nexcept\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAt this point the Chairman cut him off due to the five minute limit.\r\nCardella said he wasn’t aware of that limit,\r\nand asked for more time.\r\nChairman denied that request.\r\nHe did get to leave copies with the Clerk.\r\n

\r\nWe’ve seen Craig Cardella before, back in 2011,\r\nspeaking against the CUEE-proposed\r\nschool system “unification”<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nCraig Cardella is not on\r\n\r\nLowndes County’s list of BoE members<\/a>, which probably means that list is out of date.\r\nRemember last November\r\nthe Clerk of Court and the D.A.’s office were looking for\r\n\r\nvolunteers to be appointed to the BoE by the Grand Jury<\/a>.\r\nApparently Cardella volunteered.\r\n

\r\nWe don’t know what point he was leading up to two weeks ago,\r\nbut I wonder if the county set the millage a couple points higher so they’d have enough money, maybe that wouldn’t require so many dubious appeals processes.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

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