Why Dublin, Laurens County tax bills were really late this year

Shaun Kahrman began his new job at the Laurens County Tax Commissioner’s Office in mid-December, when property tax season typically is winding down. This year, however, it was just getting started.

Kahrman’s first assignment: answering a “never-ending” flood of phone calls.

“Every phone call was, ‘Where are the tax bills and when is the due date going to be?’ All day long,” he said.

Laurens County tax bills were mailed on Dec. 23.  A few days later, people began showing up to pay.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” recalled Kahrman. “The first couple of days the line was out the door, all day long.”

No one else has seen anything like it, either. That’s because tax bills had never been that late before – and many wanted to pay before year’s end for tax return purposes.

Georgia counties are required to submit a tax digest to the state Department of Revenue by Sept. 1 of each year, though it is not uncommon to ask for and receive extensions for various reasons. Laurens County requested and was granted four 30-day extensions this year. Without a digest filed and approved by the Department of Revenue, no governmental entity in Laurens County can bill taxes.

“That’s never happened here before, that fourth extension,” said Laurens County Tax Commissioner Darla Brown, who is finishing up her first year in office.

“I filed my first extension on Aug. 22, the day that Tom Williamson, chief appraiser, walked in my office and reported to me that the Tax Assessors Office had realized it had sent out property assessment notices on real property, such as homes and land – but had failed to mail out notices on personal property.”

Personal property includes things like cars, boats and mobile homes, but it also includes business machinery and furniture. In 2024, Laurens County’s largest taxpayer, West Fraser, paid $1 million in personal property taxes alone.

Records show a perfect storm of missteps and events leading to the delay in finalizing this year’s tax digest, beginning with personal property assessment notices being mailed late on Aug. 22.  The tax digest is a compilation of records and data that determine the total taxable value of property in the county, as well as official millage rate certifications by all districts –Laurens County, Laurens County Board of Education, Dexter, Cadwell, Dudley, Montrose, East Dublin, Rentz, Dublin and Dublin City Schools.  All of these submissions must be approved by the state Department of Revenue as part of the completed digest.

After that initial delay, the tax commissioner was forced to file for three more extensions on behalf of the county.

• On Sept. 25, an extension request was made to finish out the 45-day appeals period, ending on Oct. 6, required by law, to allow for owners to appeal those late personal property notices to the county Board of Assessors .   

• Another extension was requested Oct. 30 as the tax commissioner’s office, which files the finalized tax digest with the state before taxes can be collected, was waiting on the school boards and municipalities to set their millage rates.

• A tax increase by Dublin City Board of Education contributed to the fourth extension request, filed Nov. 26. The city of Dublin had to wait until the morning after the school board set its millage rate, which could not be approved until three public tax increase hearings were held. Dublin City Council held a special called meeting on Nov. 25 to certify its PT38, which includes DCBOE’s millage rate. All documentation was uploaded to Department of Revenue on Nov. 25 by the tax commissioner’s office, but the extension was to allow vendors for the board of assessors and tax commissioner to generate finalized reports and consolidation sheets, which included the new millage rates, for review.

Once all the millage rates were approved and all tax digest information reviewed, the board of assessors and tax commissioner’s vendor was able to upload the final files to the Department of Revenue on Dec. 10. The very next day the tax commissioner’s office received the collection order from the state revenue commissioner that finally allowed everyone to send out their bills.

The end result: Rather than due dates in mid-December, the deadlines were pushed back to Feb. 20 for county taxpayers and Feb. 23 for Dublin.

Impacted most by the delay has been the school boards, particularly the cash-strapped Dublin district. School systems basically get revenue from three sources – property taxes, state funding and grants. 

Just to make payroll, the Dublin district has borrowed advances on its state funding allotments for the past four months. The district usually collects substantial property tax revenue each December, but instead had to rely on another advance to make ends meet, essentially exhausting its entire $16 million state QBE allotment for the school year.

The somewhat complicated property tax process starts with the County Board of Assessors, which through the Tax Assessors Office identifies, lists and appraises all taxable real and personal property in the county.

The assessor’s office also maintains ownership records, manages homestead and other exemptions and compiles all data for the annual tax digest.

Once the property values are assigned, assessment notices are mailed to taxpayers. Residents have 45 days to appeal their new property values, either formally or informally, to the tax assessor’s office. If unhappy with that result, they can appeal to the county Board of Equalization, a neutral board appointed by the grand jury, and then to Superior Court. 

Before a proposed tax digest can be finalized for the county commission or school board to set its millage rate, the amount of properties still under appeal must be less than 3 percent of the digest’s value. value. Millage rates are set by a mathematical equation: The governing body’s budget, divided by net assessed value equals the upcoming year’s millage rate.

The five-member Board of Assessors in charge of overseeing the tax assessor’s office is appointed by the County Commissioners to serve as an independent body. Its current members include Matt Lake, Hilton Culpepper, Terry Autry, David Turner and Jerry Hatcher. The board is currently without a chief appraiser after Williamson left for health concerns.

Once the digest is done, a governing body or school board must roll back its millage rate enough to offset growth in the digest – which in Laurens County last year topped $2 billion for the first time ever – or it is considered a tax increase. State law requires that any county, city or school raising property taxes must advertise the tax increase and hold three public hearings before voting to approve.

School boards can set their own millage rates, but do not levy taxes, so school millage rates and taxes are rolled into the final rates approved, or certified – in this case, by the County Commissioners and Dublin City Council. State law allows for a 2.5 percent fee to be assessed to the school boards by the county or city collecting taxes on the schools behalf.

Beginning last July, school boards cannot lower their millage rates below 10 mills and still qualify for state equalization funding. That threshold had been 14 mills until the law was changed.

Once the county and each municipality compile all their taxing information, that info is gathered by the tax commissioner and electronically uploaded to the state Department of Revenue. Once the state revenue commissioner signs off, the tax commissioner receives the collection order, a sort of green light for the cities and counties to begin collections.

This year collection order was received back from the state on Dec. 11, the day after the state started its review..

“That’s the fastest we’ve ever got a collection,” said Michelle Wood, who’s worked at tax commissioner’s office for more than 17 years.

Once bills got out, county property owners showed up, even in those first days after Christmas, paying in more than $2 million in just the first two days of collections.