Property Tax Administration 2018 annual report

GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE Property Tax Administration
2018 Annual Report

Table of Contents
Highlights of the Annual Report............................................................................................................1 Reporting Requirements ........................................................................................................................ 5 Digest Review Procedures.....................................................................................................................6
Table 1: Review Year Counties Cited for Deficiencies..................................................................................7 Table 2: Non-Review Year Counties Assessed Additional State Tax ...........................................................7 Figure 1: Average Level of Assessment ......................................................................................................8 Figure 2: Average Level of Uniformity. ..........................................................................................................8 Figure 3: Average Level of Assessment Bias................................................................................................8 Value and Revenue ................................................................................................................................. 9 Figure 4: Total Assessed Value.....................................................................................................................9 Figure 5: Average Millage Rate ....................................................................................................................9 Table 3: 2018 Property Tax Millage Rates..................................................................................10 Figure 6: Comparison of Total Revenue .....................................................................................................14 Figure 7: 2017 Percentage of Total Revenue by Tax Type ........................................................................14 Figure 8: 2017 County Tax Revenue by Property Class .............................................................................15 Figure 9: Five-Year Comparison of County Tax Revenue ..........................................................................15 Figure 10: 2017 School Tax Revenue by Property Class. ..........................................................................16 Figure 11: Five-Year Comparison of Total School Tax Revenue................................................................16 Figure 12: 2017 State Tax Revenue by Property Class ..............................................................................17 Figure 13: Five-Year Comparison of State Tax Revenue ...........................................................................17 Performance Reviews of County Boards of Tax Assessors.............................................................18 List of Counties Where Performance Reviews Occurred ............................................................................19 Public Utilities ....................................................................................................................................... 20 Figure 14: Change in Public Utility Digest Value.........................................................................................21 Figure 15: Trend of Average Proposed Public Utility Equalization Ratios. .................................................21 Figure 16: Number of Public Utility Companies by Year ............................................................................21 Table 4: 2017 Ratios Used to Propose 2018 Public Utility Assessments ...................................................22 Preferential Agricultural Assessment.................................................................................................23 Table 5: Preferential Agricultural Assessment Fiscal Impact ......................................................................24 Table 6: Preferential Agricultural Assessment for 2017 ..............................................................................25 Figure 17: Preferential Agricultural Total Tax Dollar. ..................................................................................29 Figure 18: Preferential Agricultural Assessed Value Eliminated .................................................................29 Conservation Use Valuation ................................................................................................................ 30 Table 7: Conservation Use Fiscal Impact....................................................................................................31 Table 8: Conservation Use Valuation Assessment .....................................................................................32 Figures 19: Conservation Use Revenue Shift .............................................................................................36

Figures 20: Conservation Use Assessed Value Eliminated ........................................................................36 Forest Land Conservation Use............................................................................................................37
Table 9: Forest Land Conservation Use Fiscal Impact ...............................................................................38 Table 10: Forest Land Conservation Use Valuation Assessment...............................................................39 Taxation of Standing Timber ............................................................................................................... 44 Figure 21: Statewide Timber Values ...........................................................................................................44 Figure 22: County and School Revenue from Timber .................................................................................44 Table 11: 2016 Timber Revenue Reported on 2017 Tax Digests...............................................................45 Georgia's Unclaimed Property Program.............................................................................................49 Unclaimed Property Receipts ......................................................................................................................49 Unclaimed Property Paid Claims.................................................................................................................49

Lynnette T. Riley
Commissioner

State of Georgia
Department of Revenue
1800 Century Boulevard Suite 15300
Atlanta, Georgia 30345 (404) 417-2100
April 25, 2019

The Honorable Brian Kemp, Governor Members of the Georgia Legislature 100 State Capitol Atlanta, Georgia 30334
Members of the General Assembly and Others:
This report has been developed by the Department of Revenue for the purpose of fulfilling the Commissioner's responsibility to provide the General Assembly with the impact of Property Tax Administration and continued enactment of laws created by legislation and administered by the Georgia Department of Revenue.
The information contained in this report is provided pursuant to the requirements of O.C.G.A. 48-5-349.5, 48-5-7.1, 48-5-7.4 and 48-5-7.7. It is hoped that this document will enhance understanding of Property Tax Administration in Georgia.
The staff of the Local Government Services Division and I look forward to working with you and are available to provide more information or clarification of this report upon request.
Respectfully submitted,

Lynnette T. Riley State Revenue Commissioner
An Equal Opportunity Employer

Highlights of the Annual Report
Digest Review
The Revenue Commissioner continues to ensure uniformity and equalization between and within counties using the same procedures enacted in 1992, and in the manner prescribed in Article 5A of Chapter 5 of Title 48.
O.C.G.A. 48-5-8 was amended in 2010 so that over five years between 2011 and 2015 the state levy phased out. Beginning in calendar year 2016, the state levy for ad valorem tax purposes is zero.
In 2016, the statutory deadline for submitting the annual property tax digests changed from August 1st to September 1st (See O.C.G.A. 48-5-205). For 2016, eighty-six (86) counties submitted their 2016 tax digest by the September 1st deadline. For 2017, eighty-four(84) out of 159 counties submitted their 2017 digest by the September 1st deadline. The Department continues to encourage counties to achieve compliance with the law governing the digest submission due date.
Of the 53 counties falling in the 2017 digest review year and which underwent extensive review, 4 county ad valorem tax digests failed to meet state standards for approval. None of the 2017 review year digests were subject to the $5.00 per parcel penalty.
Of the other 106 non-review counties examined in 2017, one county ad valorem tax digest failed to have an acceptable overall average assessment ratio1, and one county's digest was rejected.
Assessed values increased from $387.6 billion in 2016 to $403.5 billion in 2017 or a 4.1% increase from the values reported in 2016. The 2017 average millage rate of 28.74 increased from the 2016 average millage rate of 28.56.
Several graphs showing the trend of the level of assessment, uniformity, and assessment bias can be found on Figures 1 - 3 of this report.
1 Assessment Ratio - the fractional relationship that the assessed value of property bears to its fair market value.
1

Performance Review
In 2000, legislation was passed which provides that county governing authorities, by resolution, could request that the Commissioner conduct a performance review of the county board of tax assessors. Upon receipt of such a request, the Commissioner appoints a Performance Review Board consisting of 3 members: 1 member who is an employee of the Department of Revenue and 2 members who serve as county chief appraisers. Once appointed, the Performance Review Board performs a thorough and complete investigation of the board of tax assessors, including the technical competency of appraisal techniques and compliance with state law and regulations, and issues a report of its findings to the governing authority. Since 2003 the Department has completed Performance Review of 35 county boards of tax assessors. Additional information and a list of the counties where performance reviews have been performed can be found in the section on Performance Reviews of County Boards of Tax Assessors.
Public Utilities
The statewide average equalization ratio2 for public utility property decreased slightly from 39.4% in 2017 to 39.1% for tax year 2018.
Equalization ratios for twelve (12) of the 158 counties accepted were proposed at a ratio less than 40% for tax year 2018.
Figure 14 reflects the growth in the Public Utility Digest since 2012. A chart showing the trend of the state proposed average equalization ratio for public utility
property since 2012 can be found beginning on Figure 15 of this report. Figure 16 shows the fluctuation in the number of companies centrally assessed annually due
to mergers, acquisitions, or companies ceasing to conduct business in Georgia.
2 Equalization Ratio - the level of assessment of centrally assessed property proposed by the State Board of Equalization and equal to the level of assessment of all other property valued by the local county board of tax assessors. O.C.G.A. 48-2-18.
2

Preferential Agricultural Assessment
Since the implementation of Preferential Agricultural Assessment3 in 1984, the program continued to grow through tax year 2001. Since that time, the number of taxpayers participating in this special assessment program has steadily declined; a result of the increase in fair market values at the local level and the advantages of Conservation Use Valuation.
Tables 5 and 6 and Figures 17 and 18 depict the impact of Preferential Agricultural Assessment.
Conservation Use Valuation
Since the implementation of Conservation Use Valuation4 in 1992, the number of parcels in this program has risen steadily. The number of parcels enrolled in the program for 2017 is 196,075 representing the elimination of approximately $9.6 billion in value and total tax shift of approximately $267 million. These values are expected to increase as county boards of tax assessors perform revaluations.
Tables 7 and 8, and Figures 19 and 20 depict the impact of Conservation Use Valuation.
Forest Land Protection Act of 2008
A new section was added to this report as a result of 68% of the voters approving Amendment 1 in the 2008 General Election. This amendment to the Constitution, known as the "Georgia Forest Land Protection Act of 2008", provides current use assessment for tracts of forest land consisting of more than 200 acres if the property owner enters a covenant.
One significant difference between this program and the Conservation Use Assessment is the provision for the General Assembly to make an annual appropriation for forest land conservation use assistance grants to counties to offset the revenue shift resulting from properties entered in this program. The grant formula is designed to reimburse local governments for one half of revenue reduction on the first 3% of digest value and 100% of the amount of revenue reduction that exceeds 3% of digest value.
Table 10 shows the number of properties enrolled in this program for 2017; the dollar amount of the revenue shift; and the amounts of grants due to local governments.
3 Preferential Agricultural Assessment - Bona fide agricultural property assessed at 75 percent of the assessment of other property or at 30% of fair market value. O.C.G.A. Section 48-5-7 and 48-5-7.1. 4 Conservation Use Valuation - Bona fide agricultural property assessed at current use value rather than fair market value and developed by the Department in accordance with O.C.G.A. Section 48-5-269.
3

Timber Taxation
Timber harvest values reported on the 2017 digests increased from $670.8 million in 2016 to $675.2 million in 2017, a .66% value increase. The revenue increased 1.0% from $19.0 million to $19.2 million. Timber harvest values and revenue trends can be found on Figures 21 and 22, and Table 11.
Unclaimed Property
The responsibility for the administration of this program is also handled by the Local Government Services Division. The Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act protects the rights of owners of abandoned property and relieves those holding the property of the continuing responsibility to account for the property. The type of property that is subject to the Unclaimed Property Act consists of wages, company liquidation proceeds, safe deposit boxes, money orders, uncashed checks, traveler checks, stocks and bonds. Under the Act, when someone holds property (holder) that belongs to someone else (lost owner) but has lost contact with the owner for a specified period (holding period), that holder must turn over (remit) the property to the State. The State serves as the custodian for any property remitted under the Act allowing the owners or their heirs an opportunity to claim their property in the future. The information provided includes a five-year history on deposits, locatable deposits, and paid claims.
Summary
The Department desires to provide the legislature with all information necessary for the proper evaluation of legislative impacts and promulgation of property tax policies. It fully supports the initiatives of the General Assembly in providing tax relief to the elderly, authorizing special assessment programs and exemptions for certain categories of property, homeowner tax relief grants, and increased homestead exemptions that return value to the citizens of Georgia.
4

Reporting Requirements
The Commissioner's responsibility for continuing to provide the General Assembly with the impact of property tax administration and continued enactment of laws created by legislation and administered by the Department of Revenue, Local Government Services Division, are as follows:
O.C.G.A. 48-5-342 requires examination of the digest of each county to ensure that all property valuations are reasonably uniform and equalized among the counties and within the counties. O.C.G.A. 48-5-349.5 requires a status report on this review process along with the Commissioner's observations regarding the progress of the counties in ad valorem tax administration. O.C.G.A. 48-5-7.1 requires submission of a report showing the fiscal impact of the law providing for the preferential assessment of tangible real property devoted to agricultural use. Qualified farm property is assessed at 75% of assessed value under this program and this report analyzes the effect of this program on taxpayers and levying authorities. O.C.G.A. 48-5-7.4 requires a report showing the fiscal impact of the law providing for conservation use assessment of certain agricultural properties attendant with this code section. Qualified farm property is assessed at its current use value based upon a table of values established by the Commissioner following specific legal procedures. This report analyzes the adverse fiscal impact, if any, on other taxpayers and levying authorities. O.C.G.A. 48-5-7.7 requires a report showing the fiscal impact of the law providing for current use assessment of properties enrolled in the Forest Land Protection Act of 2008 program attendant with this code section. Qualified forest land property is assessed at its current use value based upon a table of values established by the Commissioner following specific legal procedures. This report analyzes the adverse fiscal impact, if any, on other taxpayers and levying authorities.
5

Digest Review Procedures
The Commissioner, through the Local Government Services Division, has been given the statutory duty in Article 5A of Chapter 5 of Title 48 to review county tax digests and provide guidance to county boards of tax assessors when adjusting property valuations to ensure uniformity and equalization5 of assessments for all property owners.
As directed by the legislature, the Commissioner has adopted a digest review cycle in which each county's tax digest is reviewed extensively to determine the level of assessment, uniformity and equalization in each property class.
O.C.G.A. 48-5-304 prohibits the Commissioner from approving any digest where the value in dispute exceeds certain stated thresholds or where evidence exists that the county substantially failed to comply with laws regarding valuation of property.
In any given year, one third of the county tax digests undergo extensive statistical testing. Counties which do not meet the criteria as set forth in the statute and regulations, are allowed an opportunity during the three-year cycle to correct any deficiencies by the next review year. The other counties that are not being extensively reviewed are examined for level of assessment to equalize the state levy and public utility assessments. The Commissioner approves a county's digest as being reasonably uniform and equalized if it meets certain standards.
For those digests submitted by counties in their digest review year, the Commissioner completes her review on or before August 1 of the following tax year or within 30 days of the date the ratio study results are provided by the State Auditor. Based upon this review, the Commissioner will approve a digest when it is found to be reasonably uniform and equalized by having met the following state standards:
The average level of assessment for each class of property meets the mandated state standard of 36% to 44%;
The average measure of overall equalization, the coefficient of dispersion5, meets the state standard of 15% or less for residential properties and 20% or less for all other property classes; and
The bias ratio, or statistical measure of price related differential6, meets the state standard of 95% to 110%.
5 The Coefficient of Dispersion the statistical representation of equalization. 6 The Price Related Differential the statistical measure of assessment bias. This demonstrates whether lower or higher priced properties are more accurately assessed.
6

Annually one third of the counties are subject to measuring additional standards of statistical compliance. When measuring this compliance, the Commissioner utilizes information provided by the State Auditor from the sales ratio studies developed for each county. Each county's ratio study measures the statistical standards for level of assessment, uniformity and equalization.
The Commissioner conditionally approves the digest and assesses a penalty of $5 per taxable parcel of real property if a county's review year digest contains the same or similar deficiencies as the previous review year digest.
The 2017 digest review process was completed as directed in O.C.G.A. 48-5-343. As noted on Table 1, the review of the 53 counties that fell within the 2017 review year indicated that while four counties were deficient, no county was subject to the $5 per parcel penalty for failure to correct prior digest deficiencies.
The review of the 106 non-review year counties resulted in no county being assessed state penalty.
Table 1: Review Year Counties Cited for Deficiencies

COUNTY Chattooga
Polk Rockdale
Ware

Deficiency Residential Coefficient of Dispersion Residential Coefficient of Dispersion Residential Coefficient of Dispersion Residential Coefficient of Dispersion

$5 PARCEL PENALTY
n/a
n/a n/a n/a

Table 2: Non-Review Year Counties

COUNTY Fulton County digest not accepted Barrow County overall median level of assessment = 35.64

7

Figure 1: Average Level of Assessment shows the average Median Ratio from 2011 to 2017.

Acceptable Range: 36% to 44%

42.00% 40.00% 38.00%

39.00%

39.15%

39.51%

39.21%

39.48%

39.17 39.42%

36.00%

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Figure 2: Average Level of Uniformity shows the average level of uniformity, as measured by the Coefficient of Dispersion, and indicates the equality of assessments between individual properties. Case law indicates that this is the most important measure of fairness within a taxing jurisdiction.

Acceptable Range: 15% or less

18.00% 15.00%

13.04%

12.00% 9.00%

13.57%

12.52%

6.00%

3.00%

2011

2012

2013

12.04%

11.21%

5.42%

11.00%

2014 2015 2016 2017

Figure 3: Average Level of Assessment Bias shows the average level of assessment bias for the past five years as measured by the Price Related Differential.

Acceptable Range: 95% to 110%

110.00%

105.00% 100.00%
95.00%

101.98% 2013

100.92% 2014

101.62% 2015

101.08%

101.23%

2016

2017

8

Value and Revenue
Since the implementation of the current digest review procedures, counties have been performing either total or partial revaluations or updates to property valuations to conform to the state standards for acceptable digests. Property values increased from 2001 to 2008 between 6 and 9 percent annually. Assessed values decreased from 2010 to 2013 and have recovered to 2008 levels by digest year 2017.

Figure 4: Total Assessed Value shows the changes in property values since 2008.

Billions

500.0

400.0

397.9

359.4

396.6 300.0

376.7

348.4

348.1

373.1

358.7

387.6

403.5

200.0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Figure 5: Average Millage Rate shows the average millage rate since 2011.

32

30 28 27.31
27.52 26

28.11

28.17

28.53

28.74

28.56

24 2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

9

Table 3: 2018 Property Tax Mill Rates shows the unincorporated mill rates that include county, school, fire and special tax district mill rates.

COUNTY
Appling Atkinson Bacon Baker Baldwin Banks Barrow Bartow Ben Hill Berrien Bibb Bleckley Brantley Brooks Bryan Bulloch Burke Butts Calhoun Camden Candler Carroll Catoosa Charlton Chatham Chattahoochee Chattooga Cherokee Clarke Clay Clayton Clinch Cobb Coffee Colquitt Columbia Cook Coweta Crawford Crisp Dade Dawson

CY2015
27.890 32.222 28.684 24.460 26.960 25.204 30.301 28.260 33.139 30.858 32.647 29.470 33.902 28.051 24.737 22.688 22.820 33.229 30.775 29.660 25.988 27.964 25.340 36.460 33.354 25.734 26.368 29.400 34.000 30.368 35.007 32.503 29.460 24.531 27.836 26.987 29.015 28.470 28.580 30.752 23.357 24.684

CY2016
27.844 32.172 28.726 24.841 26.910 25.136 30.152 28.210 33.242 30.808 34.597 29.414 33.096 28.997 24.640 22.594 22.520 31.773 31.730 30.610 26.159 26.350 25.987 36.420 33.304 25.655 25.573 29.113 33.950 30.325 35.691 33.853 28.750 24.401 27.579 26.937 28.965 28.555 30.030 30.711 23.900 23.916

CY2017
27.844 32.172 28.727 24.586 25.510 24.434 29.116 28.000 34.795 31.710 37.466 29.386 32.977 29.206 24.361 22.025 22.372 30.973 31.704 30.610 26.825 26.340 24.706 36.400 34.314 25.653 29.040 28.812 33.950 30.346 35.691 33.853 28.750 24.378 27.216 27.937 28.920 29.310 30.030 30.724 23.993 23.916

CY2018
27.842 32.172 28.711 24.411 25.510 23.427 30.249 27.860 34.791 31.710 39.966 29.119 32.616 28.712 25.375 21.767 22.294 30.430 34.547 30.060 27.854 26.259 23.905 36.080 36.564 26.250 27.574 28.588 33.950 30.373 35.596 33.353 30.350 24.292 26.079 27.839 28.917 29.320 30.030 30.623 23.807 23.916

10

COUNTY
Dekalb Dodge Dooly Dougherty Douglas Early Echols Effingham Elbert Emanuel Evans Fannin Fayette Floyd Forsyth Franklin Fulton Gilmer Glascock Glynn Gordon Grady Greene Gwinnett Habersham Hall Hancock Haralson Harris Hart Heard Henry Houston Irwin Jackson Jasper Jeff Davis Jefferson Jenkins Johnson Jones Lamar Lanier Laurens Lee

CY2015
44.590 25.606 34.509 40.273 32.959 27.599 35.251 28.799 29.350 26.787 23.814 17.744 30.307 30.563 27.804 29.731 40.881 24.653 28.680 24.050 29.980 27.515 20.295 35.479 25.769 27.235 33.023 30.660 24.750 19.811 22.633 39.551 24.520 29.066 33.608 37.486 28.180 29.920 26.146 29.375 34.035 30.278 32.822 21.883 32.092

CY2016
44.190 25.556 34.459 40.206 32.267 26.650 34.647 28.638 29.351 28.836 25.679 16.984 29.543 30.513 27.754 29.181 40.762 25.103 28.630 24.000 29.703 27.853 20.185 35.026 26.074 27.166 31.237 30.640 24.700 20.513 22.583 38.361 24.020 29.016 33.239 35.537 28.380 30.882 25.578 30.185 35.985 30.308 32.824 21.874 31.916

CY2017
44.090 25.546 34.459 40.175 31.718 25.750 34.633 30.118 31.418 28.770 25.273 15.406 29.095 30.148 27.754 27.931 36.606 24.603 28.630 26.110 29.636 27.690 20.209 35.360 27.278 27.850 31.198 28.838 27.200 19.380 22.583 38.361 24.432 31.516 33.048 35.504 28.880 34.026 25.675 30.185 35.985 30.311 32.702 21.848 31.916

CY2018
43.990 25.534 34.459 43.175 31.113 25.724 34.616 29.695 29.095 28.708 25.889 15.406 28.978 30.086 27.654 26.863 28.226 22.941 28.616 26.110 28.803 29.090 21.611 35.069 26.713 28.150 31.213 29.557 26.540 19.772 22.228 38.361 24.409 31.500 32.812 33.894 29.380 33.956 25.661 30.193 35.985 30.472 32.676 21.868 33.703

11

COUNTY
Liberty Lincoln Long Lowndes Lumpkin Macon Madison Marion McDuffie McIntosh Meriwether Miller Mitchell Monroe Montgomery Morgan Murray Muscogee Newton Oconee Oglethorpe Paulding Peach Pickens Pierce Pike Polk Pulaski Putnam Quitman Rabun Randolph Richmond Rockdale Schley Screven Seminole Spalding Stephens Stewart Sumter Talbot Taliaferro Tattnall Taylor Telfair Terrell

CY2015
35.020 31.481 30.823 26.952 28.022 28.211 28.715 23.569 25.040 26.624 32.966 38.442 36.424 26.200 27.087 26.796 22.754 41.300 34.333 23.736 29.604 30.777 31.605 23.372 27.470 30.293 27.294 28.549 21.754 32.013 19.258 35.340 32.734 45.560 31.336 28.683 30.801 38.972 33.210 26.689 30.808 30.163 38.790 28.581 24.030 31.955 30.034

CY2016
34.469 30.165 30.778 28.135 29.906 29.311 28.704 23.448 27.490 26.574 32.924 36.876 36.374 27.631 27.844 26.458 22.694 40.550 34.333 23.686 29.526 30.237 31.555 23.930 27.260 31.801 27.212 28.759 22.572 31.938 18.852 35.575 32.468 45.510 31.286 29.579 30.459 37.840 31.710 26.648 31.478 30.113 38.583 28.372 23.960 31.858 29.984

CY2017
36.266 31.165 31.795 28.063 28.928 29.302 31.280 23.821 27.490 26.574 33.932 36.907 35.970 29.065 29.699 25.907 24.694 40.501 34.333 23.686 30.193 30.549 31.689 23.553 27.137 34.273 27.212 28.767 22.546 31.992 18.800 35.440 32.438 45.510 31.286 29.886 31.779 37.174 32.210 26.662 31.449 29.988 38.596 27.723 23.790 31.991 29.984

CY2018
37.045 32.165 31.792 27.605 28.371 29.070 31.189 23.825 28.490 26.574 35.144 37.967 35.271 29.047 29.816 25.569 24.694 40.971 34.333 23.686 29.720 30.128 31.535 23.376 27.036 34.558 27.555 28.740 24.980 31.982 19.604 35.301 32.626 45.090 31.176 30.210 30.871 38.211 31.710 26.664 31.449 30.057 38.502 28.205 23.480 32.173 29.984

12

COUNTY
Thomas Tift Toombs Towns Treutlen Troup Turner Twiggs Union Upson Walker Walton Ware Warren Washington Wayne Webster Wheeler White Whitfield Wilcox Wilkes Wilkinson Worth

CY2015
24.539 30.499 24.221 14.009 25.523 29.469 32.069 33.250 17.725 34.190 26.046 34.757 32.910 32.408 27.385 29.950 26.517 32.806 26.700 27.867 33.410 29.090 32.150 28.701

CY2016
24.139 30.491 23.704 13.832 25.960 30.160 32.019 33.200 17.575 34.180 24.469 33.955 32.603 32.358 26.836 29.923 26.467 32.599 27.962 30.317 33.360 28.911 32.082 28.651

CY2017
23.962 30.461 23.708 13.831 26.478 30.160 31.989 36.200 17.566 33.620 26.460 33.265 32.694 30.358 30.328 30.923 26.467 32.359 27.958 31.523 33.360 28.426 34.440 28.651

CY2018
23.569 30.320 23.613 13.351 26.988 30.159 31.989 36.200 17.893 30.660 26.457 33.440 32.636 30.358 30.195 35.923 26.467 32.193 28.231 31.506 33.333 28.175 34.440 28.651

13

Property tax continues to be the primary revenue source for local governments. Currently approximately $11.7 billion in revenue is collected from property taxes in Georgia. Because Department involvement in the collection of city taxes is limited, the information below does not include taxes levied and collected for municipalities.

Figure 6: Comparison of Total Revenue shows the total revenues collected.

Billions

15.0

12.0

9.0

10.4

6.0 2011

10.1 2012

10.2 2013

10.5 10.9

2014

2015

11.2 2016

11.7 2017

Figure 7: 2017 Percentage of Total Revenue by Tax Type shows the percentage of the total ad valorem taxes levied for state, county and school purposes.

School, 60.81%

County, 39.19%

14

Figure 8: 2017 County Tax Revenue by Property Class shows the amount of tax revenue generated from the various classes of property for county tax purposes.

Industrial, $228.4
Commercial, $1,231.3

Motor Vehicle,

Public Utility, $105.0 $187.3

Mobile Homes, $12.4 Timber, $9.2

Heavy Duty Equipment, $0.4

Agricultural, $123.5

Residential , $2,258.0

Figure 9: Five-Year Comparison of County Tax Revenue shows the amount of tax revenue levied for 2017 for county tax purposes and a five-year comparison.

Billions

$6.0

$5.0

$4.0

$3.6

$3.0

$2.0 2013

$3.8 2014

$3.9 2015

$4.0 2016

$4.2 2017

15

Figure 10: 2017 School Tax Revenue by Property Class shows the amount of tax revenue.

Motor Vehicle,

$160.3 Public Utility, $273.8

Mobile Homes, $16.7

Industrial, $389.0

Timber, $11.1

Commercial, $1,898.2

Heavy Duty Equipment, $0.4

Agricultural, $166.1

Residential , $3,583.0

Figure 11: Five-Year Comparison of Total School Tax Revenue shows the amount of tax revenue and a five-year comparison for school tax purposes.

Billions

10.0
8.0 5.6
6.0
4.0 2013

5.8 2014

6.0 2015

6.2 2016

6.5 2017

16

Figure 12: 2017 State Tax Revenue by Property Class
The State has phased out the State's portion of property tax revenues which began descent in tax year 2011.

Figure 13: Five-Year Comparison of State Tax Revenue shows the amount of revenue and five-year comparison for state tax purposes.

Millions

80.0

60.0 43.6
40.0

20.0

29.9

0.0 2013

2014

15.5 2015

0.0 2016

0.0 2017

17

Performance Reviews of County Boards of Tax Assessors
In 2000 legislation was passed which provides that county governing authorities, by resolution, can request that the Commissioner conduct a Performance Review of the county board of tax assessors. Upon receipt of such a request, the Commissioner appoints a Performance Review Board consisting of 3 members: 1 member who is an employee of the Department of Revenue and 2 members who serve as chief appraisers in counties other than the county being reviewed. Once appointed, the Performance Review Board performs a thorough and complete investigation of the board of tax assessors, including the technical competency of appraisal techniques and compliance with state law and regulations, and issues a report of its findings to the governing authority.
The governing authority may use the results of the Performance Review Report as grounds for removal of any or all members of the board of tax assessors. Since 2000, Bibb, Chatham, Douglas, Fannin, Fulton and Hart counties have pursued removal of members of the board of tax assessors based on the findings of the Performance Review Board.
During the years the Department has been conducting Performance Reviews, it has become evident that county governing authorities most often request Performance Reviews whenever the board of tax assessors has concluded a revaluation of all property within the county, particularly if the tax assessors have not kept taxpayers informed of the expected effect the revaluation will have upon property values.
The findings of the Performance Reviews have varied. Some have determined that counties are in compliance with state law, where the board of tax assessors has been diligent in establishing fair market values in an appropriate manner, are conscientious in following proper appraisal methodology, and work well with taxpayers and other county tax officials. Others have found dysfunctional boards who have established property values with no documentation to support their appraisals, without adherence to proper appeal procedures, and lack good customer service to taxpayers.
18

List of Counties Where Performance Reviews Occurred

2018 Treutlen 2017 Fulton 2016 Echols 2015 2014 Candler 2013 Fannin 2012 Floyd 2011 2010 Pierce 2009 Camden 2008 Jefferson 2007 Brantley 2006 Bibb 2005 Charlton 2004 Dade 2003 Douglas

Hart
Wayne
Lincoln
Jones
Crawford Fulton Gilmer Hart Johnson

Spalding

Effingham

Telfair

Habersham Lamar

Ware

Wheeler

Liberty

Madison

Richmond

Morgan

Whitfield

19

Public Utilities
O.C.G.A. 48-2-18 requires the Commissioner to annually propose assessments for public utility property and to ensure that these properties are assessed at the same overall average assessment level as other property in the county. Each utility company is required to annually return their properties indicating location, description, type of property and valuation. The Commissioner's staff inspects these returns to ensure the accuracy of each utility company's declarations and the State Board of Equalization must approve the digest of public utility values and equalization ratios prior to notification to the counties and the public utility companies. The State Board of Equalization at the time the 2017 digest was approved was comprised of Revenue Commissioner Lynnette T. Riley, State Auditor Greg Griffin, and Steve Stancil, Director of the State Properties Commission.
In determining each county's proposed assessed public utility values for 2017 the Commissioner utilized the equalization ratios developed by the State Auditor based on the results of the sales ratio study performed on 2016 tax digest. This method ensures that proposed public utility values are set at the same overall average assessment level as other properties.
Once the State Board of Equalization approved these values, proposed equalization ratios and assessments were issued to the counties and utility companies. Each county board of tax assessors then determined the final assessment of utility properties by either accepting the State's proposed equalization ratio or substituting their own upon issuing assessment notices to the utility companies.
The Department continues to be engaged in litigation as a result of public utility companies appealing their valuations. Discussions with public utility industry representatives continue in an attempt to reach a mutual understanding of appraisal methodologies so as to reduce the number of appeals and provide a uniform method of appraising property using the unit rule approach.
The Department appraised these properties utilizing recognized and publicly available financial reference data to determine the reported net worth of public utility companies in an effort to eliminate bias concerning the actual unit value of each company. These nationally recognized financial sources included Reuters, Standard & Poor's, Morningstar, and Value Line, making the process less subjective and more transparent.
20

Figure 14: Change in Public Utility Digest Value shows the digest history since 2012.

Billions

50.00 45.00 40.00 35.00 30.00

35.71

36.72

37.07

2012

2013

2014

37.97

39.68

43.75 41.56

2015

2016

2017

2018

Figure 15: Trend of Average Proposed Public Utility Equalization Ratios below shows the trend of the statewide proposed public utility equalization ratios.

45

42
39 38.99
36 2012

39.2 2013

39.48

39.13

39.5

2014

2015

2016

39.4 2017

39.1 2018

Figure 16: Number of Public Utility Companies by Year shows the numbers of companies that are centrally assessed on an annual basis.

240

230

230

224

232

220

214

214

210

217

216

200 2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

21

Table 4: 2017 Ratios Used to Propose 2018 Public Utility Assessments shows each county's proposed
equalization ratio for assessment of the public utility properties.

Appling Atkinson
Bacon Baker Baldwin Banks Barrow Bartow Ben Hill Berrien Bibb Bleckley Brantley Brooks Bryan Bulloch Burke Butts Calhoun Camden Candler Carroll Catoosa Charlton Chatham Chattahoochee Chattooga Cherokee Clarke
Clay Clayton
Clinch Cobb Coffee Colquitt Columbia Cook Coweta Crawford Crisp

38.37 38.98 38.52 40.84 38.77 38.16 35.64 38.80 38.07 37.85 40.62 41.24 39.60 38.08 40.23 38.98 39.82 38.07 38.88 38.07 38.21 38.44 39.43 38.31 38.35 38.35 36.34 38.15 39.29 39.01 39.82 38.88 38.43 39.77 38.48 39.50 39.73 38.03 39.50 38.80

Dade Dawson Decatur Dekalb
Dodge Dooly Dougherty Douglas Early Echols Effingham Elbert Emanuel Evans Fannin Fayette Floyd Forsyth Franklin *Fulton Gilmer Glascock Glynn Gordon Grady Greene Gwinnett Habersham
Hall Hancock Haralson
Harris Hart
Heard Henry Houston Irwin Jackson Jasper Jeff Davis

38.00 40.64 40.04 38.78 38.47 40.12 40.72 38.25 43.10 39.89 39.39 39.12 41.42 39.63 38.36 39.58 38.62 38.72 39.49 36.05 38.97 40.79 38.15 38.28 39.01 38.14 39.48 38.49 38.76 40.59 39.74 40.58 38.04 39.22 39.36 38.08 38.02 38.02 38.81 38.71

Jefferson Jenkins Johnson Jones Lamar Lanier Laurens Lee Liberty Lincoln Long
Lowndes Lumpkin
Macon Madison
Marion McDuffie McIntosh Meriwether
Miller Mitchell Monroe Montgomery Morgan Murray Muscogee Newton Oconee Oglethorpe Paulding
Peach Pickens
Pierce Pike Polk
Pulaski Putnam Quitman
Rabun Randolph

41.47 41.38 39.22 42.03 38.30 40.12 38.76 37.78 39.92 37.44 41.05 38.70 38.11 38.93 39.44 38.88 39.15 38.04 39.97 40.19 40.51 39.03 39.57 39.26 39.14 39.99 38.38 38.88 37.61 39.31 39.24 41.10 38.74 37.02 38.87 40.30 39.58 37.13 39.43 39.04

Richmond Rockdale
Schley Screven Seminole Spalding Stephens Stewart Sumter
Talbot Taliaferro
Tattnall Taylor Telfair Terrell
Thomas Tift
Toombs Towns
Treutlen Troup Turner Twiggs Union Upson Walker
Walton Ware
Warren Washington
Wayne Webster Wheeler
White Whitfield
Wilcox Wilkes Wilkinson Worth Average

38.90 37.23 42.90 41.01 38.28 39.43 38.07 39.63 40.71 41.13 39.53 38.73 40.61 41.52 39.67 39.09 38.16 39.11 38.07 38.45 39.67 40.19 38.53 37.58 38.54 36.69 38.27 38.38 39.09 42.48 40.27 39.03 39.83 39.09 38.49 38.14 39.80 39.31 39.24 39.14

*Fulton County's 2016 sales ratio was used for 2017 and 2018 proposed public utility ratio.

22

Preferential Agricultural Assessment
In the 1983 legislative session, O.C.G.A. 48-5-7.1 was passed establishing preferential assessment of tangible real property devoted to bona fide agricultural purposes. By statute, all real property is assessed at 40% of fair market value. However, the new legislation provided for a 30% level of assessment or 75% of the value at which other taxable real property is assessed. The decrease in the level of assessment creates a tax shift7 from those taxpayers taking advantage of this special assessment program to those taxpayers who cannot qualify for special treatment, in the same manner as any exemption for one class of taxpayers shifts the tax burden to another class of property owners. In making application for preferential assessment, qualifying taxpayers must sign a covenant (contract) agreeing to continuously maintain the property in agricultural pursuits for a period of 10 years. Transfers of ownership are allowed provided the property is transferred to another qualifying entity that agrees to continue the property in agricultural pursuits for the remainder of the covenant period. Otherwise, the covenant has been breached and a penalty imposed. Penalties range from 5 times the tax savings if the breach occurs during the first year of the covenant, to a minimum of 2 times the tax savings if the breach occurs during the tenth year of the covenant.
7 Tax Shift - Providing property tax relief to a particular class of taxpayers through valuation reductions or exemptions, resulting in a higher tax burden for other classes of taxpayers. For example, taxpayers in the preferential tax assessment program are afforded an exemption equal to the difference between an assessment of 40% of fair market value and 30% of fair market value, while the property of residential, commercial, industrial, and other classes of taxpayers is assessed at 40% of fair market value only. As a consequence, the other classes of taxpayers are bearing more of the tax burden.
23

Table 5: Preferential Agricultural Assessment Fiscal Impact shows the total number of parcels and the total dollar tax shift, and the percentage change of each category since 1990. The number of parcels that were in the program was highest in 1997 and has been steadily declining since that time.

Year
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2005 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Parcels
19,947 23,086 23,243 18,388 17,836 22,226 23,501 23,915 23,340 22,634 22,449 20,582 18,302 16,435 13,020
7,274 5,742 5,146 4,612 3,988 3,497 2,965 2,680 2,449 2,343

Percent Change
- 15.70% 0.68% -20.89% -3.00% 24.61% 5.74% 1.76% -2.40% -3.02% -0.82% -8.32% -11.02% -10.20% -3.90% -16.92% -21.06% -10.38% -10.38% -13.53% -12.31% -15.21% -9.61% -8.62% -4.33%

Total Value Eliminated
$176,780,216 $204,261,412 $180,985,796 $145,151,076 $137,170,751 $165,278,063 $174,157,485 $181,350,311 $189,169,970 $191,204,332 $191,352,938 $195,076,035 $182,041,147 $177,696,254 $194,743,119 $139,281,934 $104,297,566
$86,250,878 $72,078,892 $61,697,690 $51,398,078 $42,723,510 $37,974,985 $34,457,047 $33,352,616

Percent Change
- 15.55% -11.40% -19.80% -5.50% 20.49% 5.37% 4.13% 4.31% 1.08% 0.08% 1.95% -6.68% -2.39% 22.80% -9.51% -25.12% -17.30% -16.43% -14.40% -16.69% -16.88% -11.12% -9.26% -3.21%

Total Tax Shift
$4,010,259 $4,657,783 $4,232,187 $3,542,375 $3,362,403 $4,249,807 $4,410,076 $4,654,542 $4,701,626 $4,760,183 $4,824,066 $5,011,186 $4,768,802 $4,803,802 $4,270,954 $3,636,463 $2,725,949 $2,313,513 $1,960,764 $1,691,116 $1,443,467 $1,212,606 $1,082,504
$975,767 $945,489

Percent Change
- 16.10% -9.14% -16.30% -5.08% 26.39% 3.77% 5.54% 1.01% 1.25% 1.34% 3.88% -4.84% 0.73% -0.78% -8.72% -25.04% -15.13% -15.25% -13.75% -14.64% -15.99% -10.73% -9.86% -3.10%

24

Table 6: Preferential Agricultural Assessment for 2017 illustrates a county-by-county breakdown of the preferential agricultural assessment local impact.

County
Appling Atkinson Bacon Baker Baldwin Banks Barrow Bartow Ben Hill Berrien Bibb Bleckley Brantley Brooks Bryan Bulloch Burke Butts Calhoun Camden Candler Carroll Catoosa Charlton Chatham Chattahoochee Chattooga Cherokee Clarke Clay Clayton Clinch Cobb Coffee Colquitt Columbia Cook

Parcel Count
808 48 58
106 0 6 0
25 0 2 2 0 0
17 5 4
18 6
20 5 2
16 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 1 0 0 0
47 2 0
23

Assessed Value Eliminated 4,869,818 1,054,363 730,198 3,657,702 0 80,088 0 274,454 0 80,964 12,444 0 0 916,881 74,680 177,741 321,958 461,756 457,437 114,474 14,448 305,286 0 0 0 34,781 59,172 0 0 44,530 0 0 0 1,107,556 31,365 0 235,517

County Tax Shift
62,193 18,305 10,023 38,183
0 745
0 2,488
0 1,353
220 0 0
12,601 673
2,193 1,923 5,638 6,414 1,596
171 2,547
0 0 0 300 909 0 0 764 0 0 0 8,622 441 0 2,798

School Tax Shift
71,114 15,616 10,953 51,746
0 1,212
0 5,212
0 1,214
247 0 0
13,817 1,146 1,721 4,411 8,203 8,090 1,832 202 5,495 0 0 0 592 810 0 0 587 0 0 0
17,824 321 0
4,013

Total Tax Shift
133,307 33,921 20,976 89,929
1,957
7,700
2,567 467
26,418 1,819 3,914 6,334
13,841 14,504
3,428 373
8,042
892 1,719
1,351
26,446 762
6,811

25

County
Coweta Crawford Crisp Dade Dawson Decatur Dekalb Dodge Dooly Dougherty Douglas Early Echols Effingham Elbert Emanuel Evans Fannin Fayette Floyd Forsyth Franklin Fulton Gilmer Glascock Glynn Gordon Grady Greene Gwinnett Habersham Hall Hancock Haralson Harris Hart Heard Henry Houston Irwin

Parcel Count
0 10
3 11
0 30
0 6 15 5 0 18 2 0 2 9 41 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 4 0 40 5 0 0 13 0 41 0 0 0 0 1 0 38

Assessed Value Eliminated 0 157,120 106,649 182,630 0 1,141,723 0 97,176 415,490 505,040 0 546,224 3,450 0 17,794 248,750 367,510 0 0 0 0 0 0 115,604 33,073 0 446,675 313,427 0 0 56,735 0 674,923 0 0 0 0 13,730 0 445,761

County Tax Shift
0 2,204 1,294 1,549
0 12,729
0 1,122 7,502 6,348
0 5,462
52 0
213 2,922 3,372
0 0 0 0 0 0 981 404 0 4,390 4,385 0 0 634 0 11,325 0 0 0 0 175 0 6,631

School Tax Shift
0 2,514 1,861 2,832
0 17,646
0 1,360 6,816 9,309
0 8,603
68 0
301 3,406 5,232
0 0 0 0 0 0 1,864 542 0 8,847 4,294 0 0 811 0 9,731 0 0 0 0 324 0 6,994

Total Tax Shift
4,718 3,155 4,381 30,375 2,482 14,318 15,657 14,065
120 514 6,328 8,604
2,845 946
13,237 8,679
1,445 21,056
499 13,625
26

County
Jackson Jasper Jeff Davis Jefferson Jenkins Johnson Jones Lamar Lanier Laurens Lee Liberty Lincoln Long Lowndes Lumpkin Macon Madison Marion McDuffie McIntosh Meriwether Miller Mitchell Monroe Montgomery Morgan Murray Muscogee Newton Oconee Oglethorpe Paulding Peach Pickens Pierce Pike Polk Pulaski Putnam

Parcel Count
3 8 10 4 99 0 1 0 7 0 7 2 0 1 0 0 16 9 3 3 0 1 5 43 1 2 2 1 9 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 14 0

Assessed Value Eliminated 19,738 48,320 346,391 67,974 1,978,797 0 14,000 0 136,013 0 951,080 39,120 0 7,616 0 0 326,535 26,652 33,359 26,393 0 8,490 80,009 855,392 5,010 10,078 29,101 11,340 169,316 0 0 56,575 0 110,390 0 0 0 0 340,961 0

County Tax Shift
186 794 5,327 1,232 20,174
0 227
0 2,152
0 13,430
577 0
120 0 0
3,551 354 236 205 0 116
1,240 16,828
67 148 326 104 2,357
0 0 470 0 1,613 0 0 0 0 4,787 0

School Tax Shift
431 877 4,676 1,081 30,632
0 277
0 2,296
0 16,924
613 0
123 0 0
6,017 453 558 520 0 164
1,626 13,673
79 1,227
428 176 3,949
0 0 1,238 0 1,885 0 0 0 0 4,766 0

Total Tax Shift
617 1,671 10,003 2,313 50,806
504
4,448
30,354 1,190
243
9,568 807 794 725
280 2,866 30,501
146 1,375
754 280 6,306
1,708
3,498
9,553
27

County
Quitman Rabun Randolph Richmond Rockdale Schley Screven Seminole Spalding Stephens Stewart Sumter Talbot Taliaferro Tattnall Taylor Telfair Terrell Thomas Tift Toombs Towns Treutlen Troup Turner Twiggs Union Upson Walker Walton Ware Warren Washington Wayne Webster Wheeler White Whitfield Wilcox Wilkes

Parcel Count
0 0 41 1 0 12 104 20 0 0 25 36 1 3 34 6 22 30 1 0 36 0 1 0 8 0 0 0 2 3 111 1 5 14 1 0 2 0 14 15

Assessed Value Eliminated 0 0 768,199 3,548 0 157,455 691,196 961,052 0 0 294,710 270,230 22,284 32,330 328,889 104,780 123,563 501,694 182,386 0 336,681 0 12,160 0 64,184 0 0 0 78,210 54,302 430,639 9,440 46,151 241,490 17,790 0 30,613 0 265,825 188,680

County Tax Shift
0 0 13,480 35 0 1,938 9,315 14,280 0 0 3,423 3,574 355 666 4,673 838 2,031 6,773 1,409 0 2,947 0 158 0 1,027 0 0 0 769 592 6,770 122 448 3,121 160 0 306 0 4,851 2,211

School Tax Shift
0 0 13,773 70 0 2,988 10,805 15,522 0 0 4,435 4,925 313 582 4,445 1,654 1,922 8,270 2,640 0 4,613 0 164 0 1,026 0 0 0 1,300 1,173 7,309 164 791 4,347 311 0 550 0 4,017 3,160

Total Tax Shift
27,253 105
4,926 20,120 29,802
7,858 8,499
668 1,248 9,118 2,492 3,953 15,043 4,049
7,560
322
2,053
2,069 1,765 14,079
286 1,239 7,468
471
856
8,868 5,371
28

County
Wilkinson Worth Total

Parcel Count
1
6 2,343

Assessed Value Eliminated 14,168
414,220 33,352,616

County Tax Shift
205
5,203 423,095

School Tax Shift
283
6,420 522,394

Total Tax Shift
488
11,623 945,489

Figure 17: Preferential Agricultural Total Tax Dollar below illustrates the amount of revenue shift and value removed as a result of the Preferential Agricultural Assessment program for the last 10 years.

Millions

$5.0

$4.0

$2.7

$3.0 $3.6

$2.0

$2.0

$1.4

$1.1

$0.9

$2.3 $1.0

$0.0

$1.7

$1.2

$1.0

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Figure 18: Preferential Agricultural Assessed Value Eliminated below illustrates the amount of revenue shift and value removed as a result of the Preferential Agricultural Assessment program for the last 10 years.

Millions

$200.0 $150.0

$139.3

$100.0 $50.0 $-

$104.3 2008 2009

$86.3 $72.1
2010 2011

$61.7
$51.4 2012 2013

$42.7

$34.5

$38.0 2014 2015

2016

$33.4 2017

29

Conservation Use Valuation
In 1991 the Legislature embraced the "current use" valuation concept by providing for the assessment of certain qualifying properties based on current use value rather than fair market value. The legislation also provided for the Commissioner to annually develop a table of current use values to be used in all counties. The table of current use values is based upon a specific formula which takes into account the amount of income the land is capable of producing when growing certain crops and timber and factors found in market data using only farmer-to-farmer land sales. The data is grouped into nine agricultural districts in Georgia. Unlike the Preferential Agricultural Assessment Program in which assessments are based on 30% of fair market value rather than 40%, the valuation of property in Conservation Use Covenants is most significant in the urban areas of north Georgia and other parts of the State where strong residential and commercial development is occurring. As a result, agricultural landowners' tax savings are generally greatest in these transitional areas. The effect of this special assessment program is a tax shift8 from those taxpayers taking advantage of this special assessment program to those taxpayers who cannot qualify for special treatment, just as any exemption for one class of taxpayers shifts the tax burden to other classes of taxpayers. Several reports, graphs, and charts are being included in this report to show the fiscal impact of Conservation Use Valuation.
8 Tax Shift - Providing property tax relief to a particular class of taxpayers through valuation reductions or exemptions, resulting in a higher tax burden for other classes of taxpayers. For example, agricultural property owners qualifying for Conservation Use Assessment are afforded an exemption equal to the difference between fair market value and current use value, while the property of residential, commercial, industrial, and other classes of taxpayers is assessed at fair market value only. As a consequence, the other classes of taxpayers are bearing more of the tax burden.
30

Table 7: Conservation Use Fiscal Impact below represents the 10 counties, ranked by total tax shift, most affected by Conservation Use Assessment. The table lists, by county, the number of applications (parcel count), and assessed value eliminated from the digest, amount of tax shift for each of the tax types, and the total tax shift.

County
Hall Cherokee Mitchell Meriwether Worth Lumpkin Jackson Brooks Oconee Forsyth

Real Parcels
2,133 1,915 1,931 2,587 2,113 1,588 2,800 1,879 2,048
730

Assessed Value Eliminated
269,370,831 265,915,600 183,891,643 159,759,960 183,246,830 159,575,182 153,674,976 146,791,660 178,244,218 156,274,496

County Tax Shift
1,804,785 1,458,015 3,617,700 2,187,593 2,301,580 1,841,299 1,465,815 2,018,964 1,197,816
947,180

School Tax Shift
4,902,160 5,172,058 2,991,216 3,081,610 2,840,326 2,683,895 2,839,790 2,212,150 3,030,152 3,081,421

Total Tax Shift
6,706,945 6,630,073 6,608,916 5,269,203 5,141,906 4,525,194 4,305,605 4,231,114 4,227,968 4,028,601

31

Table 8: Conservation Use Valuation Assessment for Tax Year 2017 lists each county and the number of

parcels receiving Conservation Use Assessment, the amount of value eliminated from the taxable digest

in each county, the tax dollar shift for State, County, School, and the total tax dollar shift.

County Appling

Real Parcels
110

Assessed Value Eliminated
1,586,145

County Tax Shift
20,257

School Tax Shift
23,162

Total Tax Shift
43,419

Atkinson

951

12,564,087

218,125

186,087

404,212

Bacon

1,006

32,894,713

451,546

493,421

944,967

Baker

317

26,830,076

280,221

379,565

659,786

Baldwin

904

24,788,249

244,164

387,936

632,100

Banks Barrow Bartow Ben Hill Berrien Bibb Bleckley Brantley Brooks Bryan Bulloch Burke Butts Calhoun Camden Candler Carroll Catoosa Charlton Chatham Chattahoochee Chattooga Cherokee Clarke Clay Clayton Clinch Cobb Coffee Colquitt Columbia Cook Coweta

1,877 1,400 1,261
671 1,966
519 845 1,041 1,879 315 2,852 1,739 1,186 550 974 1,062 2,559 604 808 169
93 1,377 1,915
401 521 168 405 565 2,517 2,672 4,859 1,255 2,029

67,795,841 103,822,077
65,361,740 24,608,519 65,124,302 20,353,880 34,882,962 21,290,657 146,791,660 12,017,733 75,255,589 87,994,554 72,262,073 30,429,673 30,366,190 35,344,776 76,502,273 36,033,953 14,352,274 32,928,023 2,147,156 40,841,455 265,915,600 28,435,763 15,524,560 12,519,069 16,763,850 66,645,800 131,142,222 122,903,346 85,993,505 62,787,651 120,560,990

630,434 876,804 592,735 410,101 1,088,227 359,287 525,001 311,489 2,018,964 107,831 928,654 525,883 882,248 427,311 423,305 417,952 637,715 250,436 272,119 380,088 18,539 628,749 1,458,015 396,679 266,479 207,766 183,614 459,190 1,020,942 1,729,590 636,008 745,980 801,443

1,026,090 1,920,708 1,219,896
446,152 976,865 403,292 500,012 365,135 2,212,150 184,412 728,850 1,205,701 1,283,663 538,179 485,859 494,827 1,370,693 639,819 250,304 547,626 36,542 555,642 5,172,058 568,715 204,629 239,052 308,455 1,236,342 2,110,472 1,258,530 1,573,681 1,069,839 2,241,229

1,656,524 2,797,512 1,812,631
856,253 2,065,092
762,579 1,025,013
676,624 4,231,114
292,243 1,657,504 1,731,584 2,165,911
965,490 909,164 912,779 2,008,408 890,255 522,423 927,714 55,081 1,184,391 6,630,073 965,394 471,108 446,818 492,069 1,695,532 3,131,414 2,988,120 2,209,689 1,815,819 3,042,672

32

County
Crawford Crisp Dade Dawson Decatur Dekalb Dodge Dooly Dougherty Douglas Early Echols Effingham Elbert Emanuel Evans Fannin Fayette Floyd Forsyth Franklin Fulton Gilmer Glascock Glynn Gordon Grady Greene Gwinnett Habersham Hall Hancock Haralson Harris Hart Heard Henry Houston Irwin Jackson Jasper

Real Parcels
1,017 988 628 993
1,734 14
1,796 1,566
277 365 1,557 335 2,103 1,681 2,303 456 1,788 606 2,352 730 2,601 594 2,163 570 218 2,449 2,143 1,351 766 1,891 2,133 1,462 1,428 1,883 1,864 1,450 1,528 850 1,570 2,800 1,640

Assessed Value Eliminated
22,395,196 41,538,452 25,723,153 110,350,893 138,086,812
491,950 37,829,862 83,531,942 23,559,159 27,635,570 76,497,806 11,129,546 78,051,777 50,006,591 61,898,174 17,571,887 108,511,771 34,609,348 65,259,156 156,274,496 107,291,551 61,684,110 122,079,815 12,640,963 18,846,240 123,620,857 97,683,794 72,573,506 108,647,140 132,207,620 269,370,831 58,917,266 37,334,413 87,602,875 87,898,745 34,602,613 84,407,033 72,311,948 63,314,086 153,674,976 92,817,870

County Tax Shift
314,346 503,861 218,522 898,036 1,544,984
4,970 436,784 1,508,169 296,115 297,580 764,978 166,876 511,864 598,879 727,118 158,062 453,145 156,054 619,114 947,180 1,162,547 655,702 1,035,603 154,725 141,511 1,215,069 1,366,596 395,165 803,989 1,477,552 1,804,785 988,632 442,039 756,777 529,063 240,142 1,066,450 718,419 941,860 1,465,815 1,526,483

School Tax Shift
358,323 724,846 398,940 1,741,116 2,134,270
11,453 529,618 1,370,258 434,266 578,965 1,204,840 218,573 1,365,906 847,212 847,448 250,171 1,218,587 721,605 1,192,446 3,081,421 1,809,794 1,115,381 1,967,927 207,185 309,684 2,429,026 1,338,268 971,106 2,355,649 1,889,247 4,902,160 849,469 616,464 1,625,909 1,174,415 541,289 1,994,369 963,195 993,398 2,839,790 1,683,716

Total Tax Shift
672,669 1,228,707
617,462 2,639,152 3,679,254
16,423 966,402 2,878,427 730,381 876,545 1,969,818 385,449 1,877,770 1,446,091 1,574,566 408,233 1,671,732 877,659 1,811,560 4,028,601 2,972,341 1,771,083 3,003,530 361,910 451,195 3,644,095 2,704,864 1,366,271 3,159,638 3,366,799 6,706,945 1,838,101 1,058,503 2,382,686 1,703,478 781,431 3,060,819 1,681,614 1,935,258 4,305,605 3,210,199
33

County
Jefferson Jenkins Johnson Jones Lamar Lanier Laurens Lee Liberty Lincoln Long Lowndes Lumpkin Macon Madison Marion McDuffie McIntosh Meriwether Miller Mitchell Monroe Montgomery Morgan Murray Muscogee Newton Oconee Oglethorpe Paulding Peach Pickens Pierce Pike Polk Pulaski Putnam Quitman Rabun Randolph Richmond Rockdale

Real Parcels
1,803 894
1,393 1,284 1,097
619 2,701
588 204 1,005 587 1,369 1,588 1,344 2,363 905 1,061 208 2,587 914 1,931 1,575 1,112 1,733 908 121 1,017 2,048 1,913 1,572 653 664 1,501 1,702 1,199 641 756 289 737 1,169 239 381

Assessed Value Eliminated 70,451,438 44,818,897 19,099,484 83,863,617 53,987,532 25,709,550 62,313,295 62,088,021 7,743,504 29,085,563 22,389,737 77,721,003 159,575,182 53,667,233 97,885,337 22,338,047 58,074,799 7,903,541 159,759,960 42,140,459 183,891,643 93,455,710 20,946,498 109,607,027 30,223,109 14,346,674 72,370,268 178,244,218 44,792,800 101,976,320 50,559,226 53,440,554 54,319,278 72,671,192 44,261,189 13,230,403 64,123,143 10,160,985 62,376,519 52,568,984 10,323,198 12,007,085

County Tax Shift
1,277,003 456,929 293,158
1,358,650 652,979 406,765 447,721 876,745 114,151 296,324 351,407 697,468
1,841,299 584,750
1,301,865 158,623 453,140 78,174
2,187,593 653,177
3,617,700 1,245,858
307,893 1,226,941
277,896 180,747 972,729 1,197,816 372,998 873,937 738,974 421,272 567,644 1,012,310 489,573 185,755 539,368 162,047 568,874 921,135 101,023 242,423

School Tax Shift
1,120,178 693,797 283,360
1,659,493 983,437 434,003 913,383
1,104,856 121,310 581,042 360,475
1,302,341 2,683,895
988,926 1,663,072
373,961 1,143,493
123,951 3,081,610
856,463 2,991,216 1,470,432
315,849 1,612,648
468,458 334,579 1,447,405 3,030,152 979,977 1,925,211 863,198 837,413 907,132 1,478,350 714,862 184,921 914,973 163,023 603,805 942,509 203,739 304,019

Total Tax Shift
2,397,181 1,150,726
576,518 3,018,143 1,636,416
840,768 1,361,104 1,981,601
235,461 877,366 711,882 1,999,809 4,525,194 1,573,676 2,964,937 532,584 1,596,633 202,125 5,269,203 1,509,640 6,608,916 2,716,290 623,742 2,839,589 746,354 515,326 2,420,134 4,227,968 1,352,975 2,799,148 1,602,172 1,258,685 1,474,776 2,490,660 1,204,435 370,676 1,454,341 325,070 1,172,679 1,863,644 304,762 546,442
34

County
Schley Screven Seminole Spalding Stephens Stewart Sumter Talbot Taliaferro Tattnall Taylor Telfair Terrell Thomas Tift Toombs Towns Treutlen Troup Turner Twiggs Union Upson Walker Walton Ware Warren Washington Wayne Webster Wheeler White Whitfield Wilcox Wilkes Wilkinson Worth Total

Real Parcels
590 1,733
878 777 718 340 1,272 1,451 676 1,801 1,373 1,339 1,072 1,392 1,108 925 535 653 1,508 1,398 1,074 1,338 1,493 1,452 1,266 976 776 1,571 1,801 520 1,040 1,523 861 1,445 1,773 1,079 2,113
196,071

Assessed Value Eliminated 26,687,907 56,767,083 79,115,088 43,783,596 22,136,197 10,351,191 61,852,249 35,474,563 15,058,979 50,685,865 32,830,030 31,781,922 41,000,441 160,528,785 62,186,205 26,307,862 23,466,338 11,382,049 90,692,230 50,303,953 34,047,679 110,025,005 45,701,182 52,886,521 92,617,755 28,457,412 23,726,560 42,564,927 74,253,288 25,653,677 25,759,800 99,050,428 36,312,111 21,196,393 58,061,827 36,656,692 183,246,830
9,653,871,422

County Tax Shift
328,448 765,050 1,175,571 672,516 330,051 120,208 817,996 565,394 310,715 720,195 262,841 522,272 553,506 1,241,724 756,868 230,246 126,132 147,716 981,743 805,064 667,335 636,605 435,075 520,845 1,009,997 447,379 307,449 412,667 959,575 230,883 429,644 988,523 338,756 386,834 679,385 529,323 2,301,580
105,676,796

School Tax Shift
506,510 887,383 1,277,788 797,037 382,956 155,775 1,127,195 498,418 271,062 684,969 518,386 494,463 675,851 2,321,940 1,115,994 362,282 186,698 153,658 1,709,549 804,109 565,191 1,296,095 690,545 879,080 1,954,028 483,008 412,842 729,265 1,336,559 448,093 404,841 1,780,729 672,457 320,277 972,536 733,134 2,840,326
161,620,942

Total Tax Shift
834,958 1,652,433 2,453,359 1,469,553
713,007 275,983 1,945,191 1,063,812 581,777 1,405,164 781,227 1,016,735 1,229,357 3,563,664 1,872,862 592,528 312,830 301,374 2,691,292 1,609,173 1,232,526 1,932,700 1,125,620 1,399,925 2,964,025 930,387 720,291 1,141,932 2,296,134 678,976 834,485 2,769,252 1,011,213 707,111 1,651,921 1,262,457 5,141,906
267,297,738

35

Figures 19: Conservation Use Revenue Shift illustrates the amount of revenue shift and the amount of value removed annually from digests affected by the Conservation Use Valuation program since 2008.

Millions

350.0 300.0 250.0 200.0

$292.1 $267.4

$283.2 $295.1

$261.3

$269.2

$261.5

$265.5 $263.0

267.2

150.0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Figures 20: Conservation Use Assessed Value Eliminated below illustrates the amount of revenue shift and the increasing amount of value removed annually from digests affected by the Conservation Use Valuation program since 2008.

Billions

$14.0

11.5

$12.0 10.8 11.6
$10.0

10.1 10.8

9.5

9.6

9.6

9.6

9.6

$8.0

$6.0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

36

Forest Land Conservation Use
The Georgia Forest Land Protection Act of 2008 provides for current use valuation of property primarily used for the good faith subsistence or commercial production of trees, timber, or other wood and wood fiber products.
The assessment of qualifying properties is based on current use value rather than fair market value. The bill also provided for the Commissioner to annually develop a table of current use values to be used in all counties. It is based upon a legislated formula which takes into account the amount of income the land is capable of producing when growing timber and factors found in market data using comparable sales with and for the same existing use.
This covenant agreement between the taxpayer and the local board of assessors is limited to forest land tracts consisting of more than 200 contiguous acres when owned by an individual or individuals or by any entity registered to do business in Georgia. For tax year 2017 a covenant breach is subject to a penalty in an amount equal to two times the tax savings.
The effect of any special assessment program is a tax shift9 from those taxpayers taking advantage of this special assessment program to those taxpayers who cannot qualify for special treatment, just as any exemption for one class of taxpayers shifts the tax burden to other classes of taxpayers. To lessen the fiscal impact on local taxing jurisdictions there is a grant component associated with this program. A grant is paid to the taxing authorities to reimburse up to one half of the first 3% of revenue loss and 100% of the revenue loss over 3% as a result of taxpayers enrolling property in this program. Several reports, graphs, and charts show the fiscal impact of Forest Land Conservation Use Valuation.
9 Tax Shift - Providing property tax relief to a particular class of taxpayers through valuation reductions or exemptions, resulting in a higher tax burden for other classes of taxpayers. For example, agricultural property owners qualifying for Conservation Use Assessment are afforded an exemption equal to the difference between 7 market value and current use value, while the property of residential, commercial, industrial, and other classes of taxpayers is assessed at fair market value only. As a consequence, the other classes of taxpayers are bearing more of the tax burden.
37

Table 9: Forest Land Conservation Use Fiscal Impact below represents the 10 counties, ranked by total net tax shift, most affected by Forest land Conservation Use Assessment. The table lists, by county, the number of applications (parcel count), assessed value eliminated from the digest, amount of net tax shift for each of the tax types, and the total tax shift.

County
WORTH WARE MERIWETHER DOUGHERTY LOWNDES LEE HANCOCK TWIGGS BAKER WAYNE MCINTOSH

County Tax Shift
467,761 281,089 334,797 333,266 209,880 373,516 297,201 200,099 375,192 684,108
93,190

FLPA Grant County 102,451
- 145,495 152,529
62,735 197,510 101,261
23,850 247,130 569,155
3,567

Net County
Shift 365,310 281,089 189,302 180,737 147,145 176,007 195,941 176,249 128,062 114,953
89,623

School Tax Shift
577,253.00 303,474.00 471,621.00 488,749.00 390,004.00 470,698.00 255,366.00 169,472.00 508,300.00 952,871.00 147,759.00

FLPA Grant School
126,752

Net School Tax Shift
450,501

-

303,474

199,778

271,843

223,690

265,059

116,718

273,286

244,066

226,632

87,958

167,408

20,199

149,273

335,298

173,002

816,542

136,329

5,655

142,104

Total Tax Shift

Total FLPA Net Tax

Grant

Shift

1,045,014 584,563 806,418 822,015 599,884 844,214 552,567 369,571 883,492
1,636,979 240,949

229,203 -

$815,811 $584,563

345,273 376,219 179,453 441,575 189,219
44,049 582,428 1,385,698
9,222

$461,145 $445,795 $420,431 $402,639 $363,348 $325,522 $301,064 $251,282 $231,727

38

Table 10: Forest Land Conservation Use Valuation Assessment for Tax Year 2017 lists each county and the number of parcels receiving Forest Land Conservation Use Assessment, the amount of value eliminated from the taxable digest in each county, the gross tax dollar shift for State, County, and School, the amount of the reimbursement grant paid to the County and School and the net tax shift for the taxing jurisdictions after the application of the grant. This table does not include amounts paid to municipalities or special taxing districts.
39

40

41

42

43

Taxation of Standing Timber
For ad valorem tax purposes standing timber is taxed only once following its harvest or sale at 100 percent of fair market value. It is subject to taxation even if the land underneath is exempt unless taxation has been prohibited by federal law or treaty.
Standing timber is defined to include softwood and hardwood pulpwood, chip and saw logs, saw timber, poles, posts, and fuel wood. Standing timber does not include orchard trees, ornamental or Christmas trees, byproducts of harvesting (bark or stumps), and fuel wood harvested by the owner which is used exclusively for heating the owner's home. The taxation of standing timber is triggered at the time of the "sale" of standing timber for harvesting separate and apart from the underlying land. Timber is not taxed if it is included in a simultaneous sale of a tract of land and the timber thereon.
Figure 21: Statewide Timber Values shows the trend in value and revenue since 2011.

Millions

850.0 750.0 650.0 550.0 450.0 350.0

499.6 2011

440.6 2012

503.0 2013

685.2 589.7

670.8

675.4

2014

2015

2016

2017

Figure 22: County and School Revenue from Timber shows the trend in value and revenue since 2011.

$25.0

$20.0 $15.0

$13.4

$13.9

$19.5 $16.5

$19.0

$19.2

Millions

$10.0 $5.0

2011

$12.0 2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

44

Table 11: 2016 Timber Revenue Reported on 2017 Tax Digests shows the timber revenue that was reported on the 2017 tax digests.

County
Appling Atkinson Bacon Baker Baldwin Banks Barrow Bartow Ben Hill Berrien Bibb Bleckley Brantley Brooks Bryan Bulloch Burke Butts Calhoun Camden Candler Carroll Catoosa Charlton Chatham Chattahoochee Chattooga Cherokee Clarke Clay Clayton Clinch Cobb Coffee Colquitt Columbia Cook Coweta

Acres
13,442 20,489 11,004 9,224 5,679 5,346
40 2,812 9,584 15,418
0 9,058 6,729 6,638 11,234 18,560 40,696 6,784 1,233 21,175 19,128 8,599
146 20,522 1,440 1,722
0 2,561
0 54 553 52,332 109 40,800 17,890 8,003 3,142 12,128

Assessed Value
8,731,324 5,866,625 5,712,964 3,612,431 2,548,152 1,218,773
37,653 756,282 5,007,526 8,486,368 374,813 1,706,312 8,799,059 5,044,866 7,092,010 10,422,088 9,979,270 1,114,620 295,914 14,326,044 3,314,171 2,748,528 138,022 19,392,715 1,430,524 646,100 1,729,804 794,208 155,165 2,657,828 234,812 27,701,735
73,877 10,130,120 4,915,689
1,669,104 1,501,016 2,272,936

County Revenue
111,508 101,850
78,422 37,710 25,099 11,333
314 6,814 83,450 141,807 6,616 25,683 128,264 69,332 63,471 128,609 59,616 13,608 4,148 199,705 39,190 22,928
959 367,685
16,512 5,578 26,565 4,355 2,165 45,622 3,897 303,417
499 78,863 69,328 10,330 17,834 15,118

School Revenue
127,504 86,891 85,694 51,105 39,879 18,446 697 14,362 90,786
127,296 7,427 24,458
145,184 76,026
108,827 100,938 136,736
19,800 5,234 229,217 46,398 49,468 2,451 338,209 23,791 10,996 23,669 15,050 3,103 35,033 4,484 509,712 1,396 163,024 50,337 30,545 24,075 42,254

Total Revenue
239,012 188,741 164,116
88,815 64,978 29,779 1,011 21,176 174,236 269,103 14,043 50,141 273,448 145,358 172,298 229,547 196,352 33,408 9,382 428,922 85,588 72,396 3,410 705,894 40,303 16,574 50,234 19,405 5,268 80,655 8,381 813,129 1,895 241,887 119,665 40,875 41,909 57,372

45

County
Crawford Crisp Dade Dawson Decatur Dekalb Dodge Dooly Dougherty Douglas Early Echols Effingham Elbert Emanuel Evans Fannin Fayette Floyd Forsyth Franklin Fulton Gilmer Glascock Glynn Gordon Grady Greene Gwinnett Habersham Hall Hancock Haralson Harris Hart Heard Henry Houston Irwin Jackson Jasper Jeff Davis

Acres
12,990 1,518 2,183
111 1,597
0 21,133 12,593
0 859
0 22,244
0 5,084 126,674 159,535
795 0
4,559 0
2,126 7 0
7,570 19,120
613 15,813 16,946
0 0 33,250 33,886 5,067 29,486 980 8,871 0 5,520 9,369 736 5,457 12,204

Assessed Value
2,853,717 1,057,027
862,220 96,561
7,191,738 0
11,269,438 6,052,843 2,367,102
296,603 5,525,212 12,279,185 8,824,900 1,476,637 12,112,686 3,269,770
92,986 71,971 1,877,412 6,963 1,323,923 240,964 610,894 3,079,566 11,728,385 717,852 1,641,731 7,382,822 135,350 244,142 471,608 12,637,619 2,551,114 6,666,568 519,090 3,448,746 354,491 3,446,448 2,681,857 137,762 3,125,897 6,736,474

County Revenue
40,038 12,822 7,315
786 80,476
0 130,117 109,284
29,752 3,194 55,252 184,114 57,874 17,684 142,288 29,209
388 324 17,811 32 14,316 2,561 4,266 37,694 86,591 7,056 22,968 40,039 1,001 2,729 3,160 212,059 30,206 57,599 3,124 23,934 4,514 34,240 39,895 1,297 51,409 103,607

School Revenue
45,659 18,445 13,372 1,524 111,156
0 157,772
99,291 43,633 5,858 87,022 190,376 154,436 25,017 165,835 46,552 1,044 1,403 34,460
120 22,332 4,469 9,848 50,474 189,496 14,218 22,492 98,790 2,680 3,489 8,725 182,209 42,320 119,398 6,936 53,949 7,090 45,907 42,078 2,636 56,704 90,942

Total Revenue
85,697 31,267 20,687 2,310 191,632
0 287,889 208,575
73,385 9,052 142,274 374,490 212,310 42,701 308,123 75,761 1,432 1,727 52,271
152 36,648
7030 14,114 88,168 276,087 21,274 45,460 138,829 3,681 6,218 11,885 394,268 72,526 176,997 10,060 77,883 11,604 80,147 81,973 3,933 108,113 194,549
46

County
Jefferson Jenkins Johnson Jones Lamar Lanier Laurens Lee Liberty Lincoln Long Lowndes Lumpkin Macon Madison Marion McDuffie McIntosh Meriwether Miller Mitchell Monroe Montgomery Morgan Murray Muscogee Newton Oconee Oglethorpe Paulding Peach Pickens Pierce Pike Polk Pulaski Putnam Quitman Rabun Randolph Richmond Rockdale

Acres
13,110 22,321 17,870 14,375 2,159 1,543 30,155 5,254 10,646 6,087 23,935 11,234
529 23,861 1,915 10,332 8,438 27,708 12,979 3,279 15,952 69,934 134,286 7,814 1,186
324 3,505 2,604 20,036 27,006
838 19,985 11,101 2,662 4,793 5,610 4,792 11,147
687 23,339 1,501
0

Assessed Value
5,150,010 8,505,876 6,505,353 2,710,340
827,160 1,004,406 16,224,780 2,288,838 7,443,597 2,448,759 15,180,078 5,264,547
112,673 4,322,108 1,026,061 3,937,814 3,044,455 9,919,415 4,627,762
612,467 5,156,387 4,960,035 6,882,476 1,704,209
220,496 77,452
189,723 676,588 5,347,464 1,068,015 521,525 191,782 7,772,108 1,394,601 1,480,298 1,800,384 2,205,438 4,345,127
54,411 7,447,503
750,451 0

County Revenue
93,349 86,717 99,851 43,899 10,005 15,891 116,575 32,321 109,793 24,948 238,251 47,244 1,299 47,003 13,636 27,880 23,747 98,113 63,368 9,494 101,442 66,122 101,166 19,077 2,027 1,331 2,550 4,527 44,464 6,942 7,623 1,512 81,117 19,427 16,374 25,277 18,254 69,296
496 117,834
7,344 0

School Revenue
81,885 131,671
96,513 48,786 13,827 16,955 237,904 39,814 116,611 41,629 220,111 88,091 1,895 79,643 17,433 59,028 59,945 155,566 86,113 12,039 84,034 78,041 103,237 25,074 3,418 1,806 3,794 11,502 101,046 20,163 8,904 3,005 129,794 26,036 23,908 25,164 31,469 61,040
527 133,526
14,811 0

Total Revenue
175,234 218,388 196,364
92,685 23,832 32,846 354,479 72,135 226,404 66,577 458,362 135,335 3,194 126,646 31,069 86,908 83,692 253,679 149,481 21,533 185,476 144,163 204,403 44,151 5,445 3,137 6,344 16,029 145,510 27,105 16,527 4,517 210,911 45,463 40,282 50,441 49,723 130,336 1,023 251,360 22,155
0
47

County
Schley Screven Seminole Spalding Stephens Stewart Sumter Talbot Taliaferro Tattnall Taylor Telfair Terrell Thomas Tift Toombs Towns Treutlen Troup Turner Twiggs Union Upson Walker Walton Ware Warren Washington Wayne Webster Wheeler White Whitfield Wilcox Wilkes Wilkinson Worth Total

Acres
7,720 16,285 3,553 1,760
788 25,894 12,469 15,540 13,311 41,619 13,914 25,304 2,817 18,682 3,905 11,784
0 65,246 17,052 3,775 10,727
46 11,748 1,412 2,664 22,028 16,792 197,585 22,604 7,198 97,868 1,133
882 14,805 16,716 14,039 42,120 2,381,787

Assessed Value
1,973,309 16,562,650
983,559 720,581 392,331 7,547,816 3,660,546 4,583,471 3,423,195 12,538,574 4,259,308 10,809,539 1,035,731 3,663,944 1,705,406 4,807,652
0 3,969,547 3,494,013 2,422,429 7,018,055
2,087 2,121,875
812,422 857,171 12,954,915 4,692,633 18,387,527 19,628,769 2,309,869 6,616,532 111,239 125,522 6,807,509 8,548,245 5,292,361 5,071,400 675,422,426

County Revenue
24,286 223,215
14,614 11,068 5,850 87,653 48,411 73,051 70,504 178,161 34,074 177,633 13,982 28,322 20,757 42,077
0 51,517 37,152 38,769 137,554
12 20,200 7,993 9,347 203,664 60,807 178,267 253,663 20,789 110,140 1,110 1,171 124,237 99,809 76,422 63,697 8,498,793

School Revenue
32,913 258,907
15,885 13,117 6,787 113,587 66,710 64,398 61,618 169,446 67,254 168,175 17,073 52,815 30,605 67,096
0 53,589 65,862 38,723 116,500
25 32,062 13,504 16,029 219,884 81,652 315,034 353,318 39,173 103,985 2,000 2,354 102,861 143,183 105,847 78,607 10,736,995

Total Revenue
57,199 482,122
30,499 24,185 12,637 201,240 115,121 137,449 132,122 347,607 101,328 345,808 31,055 81,137 51,362 109,173
0 105,106 103,014
77,492 254,054
37 52,262 21,497 25,376 423,548 142,459 493,301 606,981 59,962 214,125 3,110 3,525 227,098 242,992 182,269 142,304 19,235,788

48

Georgia's Unclaimed Property Program

Georgia's Unclaimed Property Program has a team of dedicated professionals who provide customer service to holders and owners of abandoned property. The program annually receives unclaimed property from corporations, banks, insurance companies, local governments and state agencies. The lost property represents uncashed checks, money orders, stocks, bonds, accounts, or safe deposit boxes. The program has an active outreach program to locate owners of lost property.

Unclaimed Property Receipts

For Fiscal Year 2018 the program received over $209 million dollars in unclaimed funds. Along with the funds, the holders are required to furnish reports which include lost owner information such as name, last known address, account number, or social security number. Once the reports have been processed, owner information is made available on the Department of Revenue's website for an owner search.

Millions

$240 $200 $160 $120

$154 2013

$162

$160

2014

2015

$179 2016

$209 $180

2017

2018

Unclaimed Property Paid Claims
Each year Georgia's Unclaimed Property Program returns property to its rightful owners. Through the claim process, owners and abandoned property are reunited. Potential owners may request a claim form online or contact a customer service representative by telephone. Claim forms can be mailed, emailed, or faxed. Each claim request is researched to determine if the property is available and to verify the rightful owner. In Fiscal Year 2018, the program returned over $31 million dollars and 110,274 shares of stock to lost owners.
The program's customer representatives are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm at 1-855-329-9863. The web address for the online search is located at www.dor.ga.gov.

Millions

$40

$30

$20

$16

$10 2013

$16 2014

$22 2015

$20 2016

$21 2017

$30 2018

49