News Articles

In the next few weeks, the Habersham County Board of Assessors expects to mail the results of its county wide property revaluation. Most property owners should expect to receive an assessment notice stating the current fair market value of their property.

The county wide revaluation was a result of the previous year’s sales which clearly indicated the county’s assessed values listed for properties were lower than market. The Board of Assessors is sworn to perform duties specified by Georgia law while complying with procedures and regulations set by the Georgia Department of Revenue. The foremost duty of the Assessors is to maintain fair market values on all properties within the county for the purpose of levying local taxes. The tax digest is used by the County Board of Commissioners, County School Board, and all municipalities to set a mill rate for taxing purposes. When a revaluation increases the tax digest, the governing authorities must roll the mill rate back to offset for the inflation increase or if they choose not to use the roll back rate, they must advertise as a tax increase and hold public hearings. The mill rate is determined by dividing the taxable digest by the budget totals of the entities previously mentioned. The mill rate is then multiplied by the 40% assessed value (less applicable exemptions) of a property to produce the property tax amount.

The property tax digest has grown over the years to approximately 22,500 parcels, or pieces of property. This is contributed by numerous subdivisions and land splits throughout the years.

Fair market value is set by the buyers and sellers in the market; however, the Assessors’ office must determine which sales do not represent a true market value. Appraisal staff diligently investigates property sales that seem to lie outside the acceptable margins set by the Department of Revenue. Doing so protects the property owners in the county from being assessed by using a higher-than-average sale and increasing their assessment value.

While most assessment notices are going to reflect an increase in value, some property owners may see a slight decrease. Decreases occur when additional depreciation is applied to existing structures and little change happens to the land values.

Habersham County’s Chief Appraiser, Joan Church, states, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a market quite like the one we are experiencing this year.”

Church says, “If the market shows a decrease in value, then our values will reflect that pattern; however, we’ve seen that overall our previous values were much lower than what the current market has been showing.” She also stated, “We are especially aware of recent news stories concerning foreclosures, slower markets with high inventory, and decreased sales prices.”

This year property owners will see various amounts of increases in land values; some as little as one percent while some could double in value. This variation is because all properties are assigned to neighborhoods where they are only compared with property sales within that particular region. Some neighborhoods see more activity than others and some see higher sales prices than others. Although a majority of taxpayers’ assessment notices will reflect a 2005 value in comparison to a 2008 value, some taxpayers’ notices will contain a more recent comparison.

The 2008 revaluation has been expected and planned for the past two years. The last county wide revaluation was performed in 2005 where assessment levels reached 38.98 percent and by 2006 the level of assessments had already began to fall to 37.83 percent. All assessments are scrutinized by the Georgia Department of Audits where they compare to the county’s previous year’s sales. The ratio determined for 200 7 has just been delivered and reflects a decreased ratio of 37.28 percent. In order to maintain a compliant digest, the sales ratio should fall between 36 and 44 percent. Once the ratio falls below 38 percent, Public Utilities pay property taxes based on the lower percentage, such as 37.74 percent for tax year 2007. Other property owners continue to pay at a constant rate of 40 percent in this situation. Should the tax digest fall below 36 percent, the county is assessed a quarter mill recovery fee from the Georgia Department of Revenue that equates to the amount of taxes the state would have received had the digest been in compliance.

There is an enormous amount of planning and extensive analytical research that must be completed when composing a county wide revaluation. Revaluation is to maintain fairness and uniformity among taxpayers. Assessors must perform revaluations to ensure all taxpayers pay only their proportionate share of the overall tax burden. This is Georgia law and represents the ultimate goal of the Assessors statewide. Even though a county wide revaluation generally occurs every two to three years, all properties are reviewed each year by using a grouping of properties called a neighborhood.

When the property owner receives their notice, they should review the notice carefully and consider, “Is the value shown a reasonable representation of the value of my particular property?”

Taxpayers, who are receiving exemptions for Age 65-no school taxes and have the local “freeze” exemption, will see no increase in their tax bills as long as the mill rates are rolled back. Also, taxpayers who have Conservation Use Valuation on their properties will only be affected by the 3% increase of farm values and any building value changes. The Assessors’ office will be glad to provide an estimated tax amount for 2008 once the mill rates are determined.

If taxpayers have questions or another opinion, please feel free to contact our office for further discussion. We want to talk to everyone who has a question or issue; therefore, appointments will be made for taxpayers to meet with the Chief Appraiser, Joan Church, or the Deputy Chief Appraiser, Stephanie Walker, if their questions are not resolved by the appraisal staff. This process has always been very beneficial to both sides because the taxpayer has their specified time devoted only to them and we can be prepared to talk specifically about their property. It’s sometimes hard to determine an answer or action to some inquiries unless we have an opportunity to pull our records and do research. The Board of Assessors appreciates the patience and understanding of the taxpayers due to the vast number of inquiries, calls, and visits to the office.

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Under a declared Drought Response Level Four, most types of outdoor water use are prohibited with some commercial exceptions.  In addition, the EPD Director has ordered exemptions to allow the filling of swimming pools and some limited landscape watering.

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Hand Watering 
Hand watering will be allowed for 25 minutes per day on an odd-even schedule between midnight and 10 a.m.

Odd-numbered addresses can water on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. 

Even-numbered addresses can water on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

"Hand watering" is defined as one person with one garden hose.

New Landscape
New landscape can be watered up to 3 days a week from from midnight to 10 a.m. for a period of 10 weeks based on the odd/even schedule.

Anyone wishing to water new landscape must register with the Outdoor Water Use Registration Program.  The program is hosted on the Urban Agricultural Council web site.  Georgians may also contact their county extension agents for assistance in getting registered.

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More information about the drought and water conservation can be found at http://www.conservewatergeorgia.net and http://www.georgiadrought.org.

Jet Fuel is Now Available at the Habersham County Airport

Click Here for the Airport Webpage

JOINT COMMUNITY PLAN
A draft of the Community Agenda developed jointly by Alto, Cornelia, Clarkesville, Demorest, Mt Airy and Habersham County follows. This draft was submitted to our consultant the week before the Open House on May 8, and is still being revised based on public comment at the Open House. The final draft will replace this draft on May 30, 2008. Included in the Joint Community agenda are all issues and opportunities that require more than one jurisdiction for effective implementation.

The final draft is available now. Use the link below to view the document.

This is a very large file and may take 3-7 minutes to download on DSL. 

Click Here for the Full Document

2008 - 2009 Proposed Budget

The Habersham County 2008-2009 Proposed Budget is now available to view and download. 

Click Here for Full Document

The Water Quality Report 2007 is now available online in pdf format.  The purpose of this report is to raise your awareness and bring more understanding of drinking water safety.

Secretary of State Handel Encourages Georgians to Request Absentee Ballots

Atlanta—Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel today encouraged Georgians to request an absentee ballot for the July 15, 2008 General Primary Election and the November 4, 2008 General Election. Registered voters in Georgia can request an absentee ballot for the General Primary and the General Election beginning Thursday, May 8.

“We will likely see high turnout in this year’s General Primary and General Election. That could mean extended wait times at some precincts,” Secretary Handel said. “Absentee voting is a convenient way for voters to exercise their civic duty without having to visit a polling place on Election Day.”

Registered voters can request an absentee ballot from their county registrar by completing the application located on the Secretary of State’s website: http://www.sos.ga.gov/elections/ElectionCenter08.htm. Voters then submit the form to their county registrar by mail or fax. Contact information for county registrars can be found here: http://www.sos.ga.gov/elections/ElectionCenter08.htm.

Voters can request an absentee ballot beginning 180 days prior to an election without providing a reason. Absentee ballots will be mailed 45 days prior to federal, state, and county elections and 21 days prior to elections featuring only municipal candidates. Voters must submit a separate absentee ballot application for each election, unless they are physically disabled, of advanced age, or exempted by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.

Voters participating by absentee ballot by mail are not required to provide photo identification. Absentee ballots must be received by the county registrar by Election Day.

Georgians with more questions regarding elections and absentee ballots can call the Secretary of State’s Elections Division at (404) 656-2871 or visit http://www.sos.ga.gov/elections/.

Karen Handel was sworn in as Secretary of State in January 2007. The Secretary of State's office offers important services to our citizens and our business community. Among the office’s wide-ranging responsibilities, the Secretary of State is charged with conducting efficient and secure elections, the registration of corporations, and the regulation of securities and professional license holders. The office also oversees the Georgia Archives and the Capitol Museum.

Mentoring - being a role model for another person, just being a friend, someone to talk to. We encourage our mentors to just hang out and have a good time. Mentors should not enter the program thinking they are going to solve a person's problems. Not every one that has a mentor has emotional baggage. That is the misconception of mentoring. Many kids don't want one because they think others will think they are "mental" or mentors think they are going to get some really messed up kid. We have MANY kids that want a mentor. They like having an older, positive role model. We have MANY kids that have a mentor that don't want to discuss their personal life, but to just have someone to hang out with. We have had some mentor/mentees go fishing at the pond, play cards, play board games, read books and discuss them later, and look at antique cars.

Peggy Newton trained over 40 county employees to become mentors. Most received a mentee by the end of January. However, I ran out of students that wanted to participate so about 5 did not have a chance to mentor this school year. However, we will be getting almost 300 new students next year and will need mentors, so I want those that did not have chance to mentor this year to do it next year. They are the first on my list for
next school year. Right now we have about 29 active Habersham County
mentors. A few had to step down from mentoring due to personal time
schedules and work schedules. We have an awesome group here at NHMS. I really hope they continue to do it next year even if they are not at NHMS.


If anyone wants to become a mentor, they need to call Peggy Newton at North Habersham Sixth Grade Academy. 706-778-7978 x 13 or pnewton@habersham.k12.ga.us. Any school welcomes mentors for our students!!!

Real Time Alerts
Habersham County residents can get "Real Time" important information sent as text messages to their cell phones. WCHM Radio, in cooperation with area sponsors, has developed this system to alert area residents of potential emergencies and other important news.

The system provides area information about school closings, weather alerts and other vital emergency news, including Regional Amber Alerts. User may sign up for the alerts they want.

The service is free, but regular text message rates do apply. 

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Commission Meetings will be Broadcast Live over the Internet

Starting: Monday Feb, 04, 2008

With the help of WCON, Commission meetings will be broadcast live over the internet. For now you will only be able to hear audio. We will be looking to add video in the future.

Click here to go to the WCON webpage where you can listen to the meeting live.

The Habersham County Commissioners are charged with the tremendous task of allocating taxpayer dollars for every department in the county, including those of Constitutional Officers. We diligently strive to adequately balance proper levels of service at practical costs to the taxpayers as we formulate the annual budget. As a part of that annual budgeting process, Constitutional Officers prepare, propose, and negotiate their budget with the County Commission and/or its staff. The Habersham County Commissioners fully acknowledge our responsibility to provide sufficient resources to Constitutional officers.
 
Issues and allegations continue to surface with regard to the Constitutional Office of the Probate Judge. For the record, employees of Constitutional Officers are the employees of the elected official, and, although paid by the county, are directly accountable to the elected official. Failure to perform official duties by a Constitutional Officer, or their employees, is solely the responsibility of the Constitutional Officer. Dereliction of duties, such as failure to swear in poll managers and clerks, failure to distribute identification badges, failure to post sample ballots at all polls, and lack of training for poll workers falls under the duties of the Probate Judge, not the Commissioners or any other county authority. 

A brief review of the allocation of funds for the office of the Probate Judge shows the county responded to lapses in budgetary foresight. As example, in June of 2006, the Commission approved an additional 1,040 employee hours. In March of 2007, the County Commission approved a transfer of funds from county reserves for the probate court in the amount of $14,100. In April of 2005, the Board of Commissioners approved a transfer of contingency funds for the payment of employee overtime and election needs in the amount of $2,926. 

As a matter of public record, the fiscal year 2007-2008 budget of the Probate Judge contains the following line items (and the amounts utilized for those line items through December 14, 2007): 

                                   BUDGETED     UTILIZED
Probate Judge Salary     $72,341.00     $35,642.64
Salary (Part time)           0                   1,496.00
Salary Clerks                53,302.00        14,896.72
Overtime                      4,600.00           653.02
Poll Workers                20,600.00         4,425.00
Contracted Services      7,400.00          4,825.00
Substitute Judges         3,800.00           0
Election Supplies          7,400.00          564.58

These samples of the line items represent the fact that ample resources are available to run the aforementioned office, including any and all necessary expenses related to the forthcoming election on February 5, 2008. 

We have provided such resources in previous years as well. In fiscal year 2005-2006, the County Commission allocated $17,800 to the Probate office for the purchase of equipment, computers, and software. None of those allocated funds were used by the Office of Probate Court. 

In fiscal year 2006-2007, the office had excess funds in many line items including, poll workers($2,982.89), advertising ($1,030.50) court appointed attorney ($500), training and conferences ($1,261.44), and contracted services ($2,155.51) that were never utilized. Overall the office had unused funds totaling $5,668.62.
 
The County Commission has also attempted to provide necessary training resources, only to have those resources remain unused during recent years. For fiscal year 2006-2007, the amount of $2,256.20 was allocated for training and conferences. Only $994.76 was utilized. For fiscal year 2007-2008, the amount of $2,000.00 was allocated. As of December 14, 2007, only $740.00 has been utilized. 

The Habersham County Board of Commissioners, as evidenced by the above public record, has provided all necessary resources, including multiple adjustments during budgetary years, to the Office of Probate Court. We remain committed, without prejudice, to providing the resources needed by all Constitutional Officers to adequately staff their office and perform their professional duties.

David C Wall
Clerk of Superior Court
Email: david.wall@gsccca.org
555 Monroe Street • PO Box 2320
Clarkesville, Georgia 30523
Phone: 706.754.2923
Fax: 706.839.6351
October 4, 2007 

For Immediate Release:
David C. Wall, Habersham County Clerk of Superior Court, is warning residents of a jury duty scam 

The scam is apparently being used to steal identities by deceiving victims into revealing their personal information, said Wall. 

According to Wall, the scammer calls the residence or office number of the victim, identifying themselves as an officer or employee of the local courts. The victim is told that because they failed to show up for jury duty, a bench warrant has been issued against them for their arrest, said Wall. The victim is usually upset by this and the scammer responds by saying this is probably a misunderstanding that can be cleared up with a few simple questions. According to Wall, the scammer then ask for personal information such as full names, social security numbers, dates of birth, and even credit card or bank account numbers claiming these will be used by their credit bureau to verify the victims identity. Family members who answer the call are very vulnerable to this, said Wall.
According to Wall, Habersham County residents and surrounding counties should be aware of this type of scam. The Jury Commission does not use any personal information in the Jury Pool other than name, address, sex, race, and date of birth.  Anyone receiving a call concerning jury duty, do not give them any personal information, end the call immediately Look up the Clerk of Superior Court in the telephone directory and call us directly. Should you have a Caller ID and their number shows up or any other clues as to who made the call or where it may have been made, please share this information with us, and the Habersham County Sheriff's Office Investigators as quickly as possible as we are working together to protect our citizens in this matter, said Wall.

You can now view a list of all Registered Sex Offenders in Habersham County. You can also view a map of Habersham that shows the location of each Registered Sex Offender. Follow the links below or you can go to Online Services and then click the Sex Offender link.

Sex Offender List

Sex Offender Map

PRESS RELEASE

County Code of Ordinances available on-line


Chairman Jim Butterworth today announced that the Habersham County Code of Ordinances is now available to the public online.

Municipal Code Corporation, the nation’s leading Code publisher, has welcomed Habersham’s Code into their Online Library. “Citizens now have total access to the Code for research and printing purposes. The site is easy to navigate and full of useful content” Chairman Butterworth said.

Habersham County’s official website contains a link to the Code, so online research is only a click away. Visitors will find that there are several helpful tools available, such as an advanced search feature (which includes detailed instructions) and full print capabilities. The user may also browse the Code by navigating through the table of contents. Citizens can even create a personal user profile to receive fully trackable technical support.

Municipal Code Corporation has been in the business of codification for over half a century, and was the first legal publisher to post Codes on the internet. In partnership with counties nationwide, they continue to keep pace with the latest technology, striving to provide the highest quality product and most professional and courteous service to government agencies and their citizens. Currently, over 1,800 municipalities across the country utilize this online service. All of these Codes are available free to the public and viewable by visiting http://www.municode.com and choosing “Online Library” from the main menu.

“The County continues to use technology in an effort to make information and services more accessible to our citizens” Butterworth added.

To view the Habersham County Code of Ordinances, please visit the county’s official website, at http://www.habershamga.com or use the direct link to the Municipal Code website, http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=13965&sid=10.

PRESS RELEASE

New Recycling Center opening July 26

Chairman Jim Butterworth today announced that Habersham County will be opening its third Recycling Center on Thursday, July 26th. The Pea Ridge Recycling Center will be located at 970 Frank Arrowood Road, Cornelia. “The County Government is continuing its efforts to encourage recycling,” Butterworth said.

“At each County recycling center there are bins to collect newspaper, cardboard, glass (clear, brown, and green), aluminum cans, and plastic jugs. Also, at each site there will be county staff to offer their assistance” the Chairman added.

“The Board remains committed to recycling, source reduction, and protecting our environment” he said.



For further information contact, Greg Robinson, Solid Waste Manager at 706-778-0926.

Current 2007 Tax Digest and 5 Year History of Levy is available for viewing and downloading online. It is available in the Commissioner's Online Document Center.

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