A record number of Chattooga County property owners appealed their taxes in 2023 and that caused a delay in property tax bills being sent out.  The property tax due date is normally the first of December, but this time, the tax due date had to be pushed back to March 1, 2024.  The county’s board of assessors continues to work through the massive amount of appeals that they have received.

In a typical year, the board of assessors would hear a couple hundred tax appeals, but this past year, those tax appeals skyrocketed to over 3,000 appeals.  The board of assessors was not able to handle that large volume.  Those tax payers who still have not had their appeal heard have received a letter from the board of assessors saying “We are diligently working through the appeals, and due to the volume, Georgia Law allows an extra 180 days for our office to make a determination and notify the taxpayer”.

The large number of appeals was due to property values increasing because of the price that people have been willing to pay for houses and land in Chattooga County over the past few years.  In 2020, the average house in Chattooga County cost $73,000, according to numbers from the U.S. Census.  Last year, the median price for a house had jumped to $156,000.  (realtor.com).