(JUNE 3, 2025) -- Notices of Assessments for the 2025 tax year will be mailed out later this month following a meeting of the Board of Assessors.

The Tax Assessor’s Office estimates the mailings will begin the week of June 16. The Board of Assessors is scheduled to meet June 12 to consider the Notice of Assessment list and new exemption list.  Once approved, the notices will be mailed to property owners. Property owners will have until July 31 to file appeals.

The Notice of Assessment, issued by the Tax Assessor’s Office, is not a tax bill. Tax bills are mailed in the fall and are issued by the Tax Commissioner’s Office.

Property owners will notice a new look to the Notices of Assessment, following legislative action of the Georgia General Assembly. HB 581 and HB 92 changed the law to include a statewide floating homestead exemption, when estimated taxes are displayed on the notice, and what millage rates are shown on the assessment, among other changes.

“It has taken extra time to ensure these calculations are running correctly,” said Chief Appraiser Steve Swindell.  “We believe the delays in mailing the NOAs this year have been justified given the amount of changes instituted by the legislature these last two sessions.  We understand these new changes will bring questions from the taxpayers, and we are prepared to respond to each and every person who calls or comes in.”

Every Notice of Assessment will have the names and phone numbers of the staff member to contact printed in bold font on the first page.

The entire estimate of taxes no longer appears in “Box C” at the bottom of the Notice of Assessment.  Instead, depending on whether a taxing authority did, or did not, report an estimated rollback rate to the Board of Tax Assessors, the only tax estimate that will appear will be for the M&O of the jurisdictions which did not report.  The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners voted to not report a millage rate to ensure the estimated tax amount would be included on the assessment. Other jurisdictions that did not provide a millage rate include Ball Ground, Nelson, Waleska, and Mountain Park. Canton, Holly Springs, Woodstock, and the Board of Education provided their millage rates to the Board of Assessors.

Fire Tax and Bonds will not appear on the new notice.  The only entries in Box C will be for the County M&O, School M&O and, if applicable, the City M&O.

Taxpayers who hold the Senior School Exemption and whose property value exceeds the old cap will notice a 100 percent exemption for School M&O for 2025.  Verification can be made by looking at the value in the exempt column for School M&O and the 40 percent current assessed value.  Those two numbers should match, meaning 100 percent exemption is being applied.  The same will be true of the School Bond, although the Bond will not be reflected on the notice.

Since the County already had a Freeze Homestead Exemption in place since 2008 for its maintenance and operations, no changes will be evident as they relate to the new Statewide Floating Homestead Exemption.  The County Freeze Homestead Exemption is superior to the State’s new exemption.  Some cities did not have a floating homestead exemption in the past but do now.  Taxpayers will see the new exemption amounts reflected on the Notice of Assessment for their particular city’s maintenance and operations.