Many Chattooga County residents are once again opening their property tax assessment notices to find eye-popping increases — some over 100%, with a huge number of people reporting increases in the six figures.
No tax bills have gone out yet — these are assessment notices, which set the value the county will use to calculate this year’s bill, not bills themselves. But the numbers residents are reporting have already sparked alarm across the county:
- One homeowner said their assessed value increased $196,000 over last year.
- Another reported an increase of $130,000.
- One property jumped from $195,000 to $441,800 — a 126% increase — with no improvements made to the property. “Biggest jump I have seen,” the resident said.
- One resident who owns multiple properties across the county shared increases on three separate parcels: a property on Hwy 100 up $117,668 (104%), a property in Menlo up $150,150 (99.4%), and a property in Trion up $135,020 (93%).
- While another resident said their home’s assessed value went from $150,000 a few years ago to $400,000 last year — after paying for an independent appraisal, the county-recognized value was corrected to $267,000. This year, that same home jumped again, from $267,000 to $389,000 — despite being a 22-year-old, Hardie board home, not brick, and located outside any metro area. “This isn’t Atlanta,” the homeowner said. “We’re in a tier 1 community.”
This isn’t the first time Chattooga has seen assessments spike like this. In 2023, the county’s reassessment — also conducted with the help of an outside firm, Georgia Mass Appraisal Services & Solutions, Inc. (GMASS) — led to a record 3,173 appeals countywide, with some property values jumping by over 2,000%. GMASS is still under contract with the county today, in what officials have said is the final year of that original three-year agreement. State law requires appraisal visits at least once every three years, which is part of why the company’s field appraisers are back out working properties again this cycle.
Property taxes and assessments were widely seen as one of the defining issues of the 2024 Sole Commissioner race. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that then-incumbent Blake Elsberry campaigned in part on legislation to freeze property assessment increases for homeowners — while Andy Allen went on to unseat him, winning 61% of the vote.
Asked for comment, Tax Commissioner Joy Hampton said: “I’ve just received the numbers and am working on checking exemption calculations. I’m going as fast as I can to try to get some preliminary data for levying authorities and taxpayers to see how much relief HTRG and the FLOST will offer, and what millage rates will calculate out to. I hope to make enough progress to present early numbers to the Commissioner next week, then to the other tax districts. It will probably be at least a month before millage rates can be looked at seriously, when we see how appeals are turning out.”
In other words: no one, including the county, will have real answers on what this means for actual bills until the appeals process plays out and millage rates are set — likely at least a month away.
I reached out to Sole Commissioner Andy Allen and asked for his response. What was asked: “I’m working on an article about the recent tax assessments and would like a quote from you to include. Did you know that some would be seeing increases like this again this year? How much money does the county pay GMASS? Do you agree with the assessments?”
He said: “At this moment I don’t have enough information to comment. When I do I will put out a public statement answering your question.”
Residents can appeal, but the window is short — appeals must be postmarked within 45 days of the mailing date on the assessment notice.
An appeal can challenge the value itself, whether it’s consistent with comparable properties, or whether the property is taxable at all — but state rules specifically bar appealing simply because the tax amount feels too high; the challenge has to be about the value.
