The Whitfield County Assessors Office has begun a project to update property records throughout the county.
While the primary focus will be photographing the main structure or structures on the property, the appraisal staff will also be checking for updates to floor plans, condition improvements or deteriorations and any modifications made to a property since the last field visit, officials said.
“This project will take approximately 16 months to complete,” Chief Appraiser Ashley O’Donald said. “We have seven staff appraisers and our residential supervisor working on this project. Each have been assigned a portion of the county.”
Georgia’s Department of Revenue recommends all property should be reviewed in person every three years. There are more than 40,000 real estate parcels in Whitfield County, which means each appraiser averages 5,000 parcels each. Of those 40,000 parcels, more than 28,000 parcels have at least one residential structure on it.
“Our appraisers will be identifiable,” Deputy Chief Kristi Queen said. “They will be riding in county marked vehicles with government tags, wear shirts with the county logo present and have identification cards on their person. Pictures and property characteristics will be collected using an iPad.”
Some of the staff prefer to walk neighborhoods when the weather and the sidewalks cooperate, officials said.
“Walking a neighborhood gives me a more thorough and accurate review of the property,” Real Estate Appraiser Jonathan Hayes said. “Not only that, I get a better feel of the specific neighborhood, which ensures I treat like properties uniformly.”
While the photography project is the main focus of the Real Estate appraisal staff this year, the staff also continues with its yearly work of adding new construction permits to the digest, reviewing sales ratio reports and working deeds.
In addition, the Assessors Office would like to remind taxpayers of a few important deadlines. The deadline for filing personal property returns, real estate property returns and applying for specialized assessments is April 1. If you have any questions, call the Assessors Office at 706-275-7410 or visit the office on the ground level of the Whitfield County Courthouse.