With recent falling home prices, you should investigate and see if your property value used by your local government for tax purposes should be lower.
Many Georgia residents should be receiving notices from your local government tax assessor office regarding the latest property valuations used for property tax calculations. You should have 45 days from the date of the notice to object and challenge that property value. Be sure to consult with a realtor to see if they can give you any recent subdivision sales that are comparable to your property which you can use to challenge the property value your local government will for tax purposes.
The effective date of SB 346, Section 5-2 provision (using no higher than purchase price as property value in the year following year purchased) and most of the rest of the Bill became effective 1-1-2011. (SB 346 history and Bill at Georgia General Assembly website – http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/search/sb346.htm)
Section 5-2: “Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, the transaction amount –(i.e., sales price)– of the most recent arm’s length, bona fide sale in any year shall be the maximum allowable fair market value for the next taxable year.”
As a side note, the following link states that Part XIII and Part VI of SB346 shall become effective upon approval by the Governor (signed 6-4-2010) or upon it becoming law w/o such approval (I think if Governor didn’t sign or veto, it then automatically becomes law in Georgia) ; assume (effective) for tax year 2010; all other provisions become effective January 1, 2011; http://www.gaptp.com/docs/SB346.pdf
References to products and services are not a specific endorsement, but the user must perform their due diligence and investigate whether the product or service is right for them. I welcome any or all comments that would help others.