Chief Appraiser Billy Carter and his team have been boots to the ground collecting damage assessment data since Hurricane Helene blasted her way through Ware County on Friday, September 27.
“We are doing an overall damage assessment for GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency) and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) for the county,” said Carter. “This report will go the tax commissioner and to the emergency medical director of the county.”
The damage assessment report is compiled based on the requirements of House Bill 3011 which was enacted on March 16, 2023. According to www.allongeorgia.com, the bill creates “an optional temporary tax relief mechanism for buildings damaged by a natural disaster that may be utilized by local governments. An assessment of the damaged property would be required before being eligible for temporary tax relief.”
HB311 was designed by State Representative Lynn Smith (R-Newnan) and Senator Matt Brass (R- Newnan) in response to the EF-4 tornado that ripped through Coweta County on March 26, 2021. The tornado destroyed 70 homes, damaged 1,744 others and destroyed Newnan High School.
Carter states that none of the details have been worked out yet.
“It depends on the amount of damage, whether the the property was destroyed, has major or minor damage.” said Carter.
“We still have two or three more days of riding then we’ll pretty much be complete,” he added. “We’ve already had a damage assessment flight flown. It shows us downed trees and trees on houses.
“We have to present values of properties and determine the destruction value of the property and what the losses are.”
Some community members are still waiting for their physical property assessments following the September 6 appeal deadline.
“We had to drop what we were doing,” said Carter. “We’ve got ourselves in a good enough spot that the tax bills will be going out hopefully the first of November and then we can continue to work on appeals. There are six of us and we do the city and the entire county.”
Hurricane damage done to properties will not affect the current assesswe ments. “Georgia Law states whatever condition a property is on January 1 is how it is assessed,” said Carter. Damage to previously assessed properties caused by the storm will be entered into the report being prepared for the tax commissioner, the county commissioners, GEMA and FEMA.
