The Oglethorpe Echo
The Oglethorpe County Board of Commissioners approved an extension with Georgia Mass Appraisal Services & Solutions, Inc. at its meeting on Jan. 9.
GMASS specializes in value assessments on real estate property, which is the cost of a piece of land if it went up for sale. The organization will work with Oglethorpe County through at least 2026.
“That’s done through sales comparisons, as well as comparing to other properties,” Commissioner Tracy Norman said. “This was actually the renewal of an agreement that we had for the prior three years.”
Georgia requires an assessment of all county properties once every three years. The newly signed contract stipulates that GMASS will evaluate one-third of Oglethorpe County’s properties each year for $78,000 annually.
Jay Paul, chairman of the board of commissioners, said the county’s relationship with GMASS was one reason it was comfortable renewing the contract.
“Even before I got here, it’s my understanding that we’ve used GMASS in the past,” Paul said. “I know that (chief tax appraiser) Kem Caldwell had high marks for them, too. If we’ve got a good system that’s working, we try to continue it.”
Manpower is another benefit of hiring GMASS, Norman said.
“We don’t have the bandwidth to do it internally,” he said. “With their assistance, we’re able to (evaluate) all residential properties in the county.”
The evaluation process hasn’t been flawless, though. Norman said the county is behind on its “valuation ratio to sales ratio,” meaning there is a lag between the assessed value of the property and the actual value of the property.
Norman specified the lag may not be due to GMASS evaluations, and he said the board is working with the state legislature to help correct the lag.
“Hopefully, part of it will be that the market is slowing down, and that should self-correct to a large degree,” he said. “The other thing is trying to get the legislative body to actually make an adjustment so we’re not a year behind on that. That might be a possibility, too.”