Chattooga County Tax Commissioner Joy Hampton says that she will be sending numbers to the state authorities this week and that the county is about halfway through the tax digest and billing process.   Normally by this time of the year, tax bills are already complete and in the hands of Chattooga County property owners, but this year has been anything but normal.   With a huge spike in land values there were a record number of tax appeals to the Chattooga County Board of Assessors.

Tax Commissioner Hampton says, “Once the levying authorities have set their rates, I will finalize the bills, apply HTRG funds and submit the digest for approval. At least two thousand appeals are still pending, and although they will show in the system once I finish, I won’t mail those or apply a due date to them until they are complete”.

The tax commissioner says that she will give more updates as the process moves along and says “If I stay on this track, those needing to pay part or all of their bill by year end will be able to do so by mid December. I’m still looking at a February or March 2024 due date.  The numbers I’m sending are obviously not final numbers with so many properties still under appeal, but we are at a crucial time when we must go forward or risk problems for budgets and for citizens who itemize their property tax payments for income tax purposes. I’ve been crunching numbers and watching them for weeks now and feel this timing is our best case scenario”.