Is Your Chattooga County Tax Bill Really Lower? Here’s What the Tax Commissioner Says

Tax bills are arriving in Chattooga County mailboxes, and many readers have reached out to AllOnGeorgia with the same question: Is this real?

Many homeowners received higher property assessments earlier this year, yet are now opening bills that are lower than last year’s. AllOnGeorgia contacted Chattooga County Tax Commissioner Joy Hampton to find out what is going on. Here is what she had to say:

“State and county officials have been working the last several years to ease the tax burden on homestead properties in Georgia and homeowners will see those results on their bills this year.

As tax bills arrive, many homeowners will notice a decrease in their total amount due compared to prior years. For county and city portions, tax rates were reduced by the FLOST sales tax that was approved by voters to begin this year. This reduction reflects five months of the 1% FLOST; 2027 will reflect a full 12 months’ collection.

Float and freeze exemptions also protected homeowners from seeing an increase in their bill despite increases in values this year. Governor Kemp additionally approved a Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grant which paid a portion of school, county and city taxes for parcels claiming homestead.

Schools were not allowed to be part of the FLOST sales tax and are not included in the float/freeze exemptions, but more relief is expected for those entities in 2027. County schools are also offering to increase their homestead exemption which is being voted on in this election. 

Bills that arrived in mailboxes last weekend with a December 11 due date are the final, true bill. Taxpayers who appealed their value also received their temporary bill.  If the bill states “APPEALED”, that is not the final bill. Those taxpayers will receive a new final bill once their appeal is resolved. If the bill does not state “APPEAL”, but instead states “FIRST NOTICE”, or “ADJUSTMENT NOTICE”, it really is the whole bill.”