Thousands of Fulton County taxpayers are due refunds now that a judge has overturned the county’s efforts to bill taxpayers to correct a series of errors the county made during the past three years.
Whether they get the refunds depends on whether Fulton County accepts Friday’s ruling by Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter or files an appeal. County attorney Larry Ramsey said Monday that hasn’t been determined.
Baxter ruled Friday that homeowners whose exemptions were changed, bills recalculated and required to pay three years’ worth of back taxes should first have been given the chance to appeal. Baxter’s order said “there are substantial issues regarding the legality of retroactive billing.”
The ruling came in response to a class-action suit filed by Sandy Springs lawyer Bob Proctor, who has sued Fulton during the past decade on how Fulton assesses and collects taxes.
“It was the height of arrogance for the tax assessors to change people’s tax liabilities without giving them the chance to appeal,” said Proctor. “The judge agreed with me.”
The ruling and the refunds involve about 12,400 tax bills Fulton sent out in August to fix miscalculations stemming from a state law passed in 2004 that was aimed at slowing property tax increases caused by ever-increasing assessments. The law makes minor yearly increases in the county’s homestead exemption to compensate for the increasing property values.
The bill took effect with the 2005 tax year. However, Fulton made a series of mistakes applying the new rules to a few properties. Officials caught the mistakes in late 2006 but didn’t get them fixed until this year.
So some owners face corrections from 2005 forward.
In all, Fulton re-billed for more than $1.3 million in overdue taxes and also sent out more than $1 million in refunds. Friday’s ruling does not affect the refunds, officials said.
County Manager Zachary Williams said it was too early to know what the refunds might mean to Fulton County operations. The money would cut revenue in fiscal 2008, which ends Dec. 31. And, it would impact what Fulton can do next year. The budget proposal is due out by Nov. 15.
“We will do everything we can to avoid impacts to critical services,” he said.
Labels: Fulton County, fulton county taxes, Tax Refund
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 8:50 AM
