MOULTRIE, Ga. — The State of Georgia on Monday gave property owners another two weeks to appeal changes to property values.

That means Colquitt County landowners who have not yet appealed this year’s revaluations have until Aug. 27 to do so. Under the original schedule, the county Board of Assessors had stopped taking appeals last Thursday.

According to a release on the state Department of Revenue website, the extension is tied to the statewide judicial emergency that Chief Justice Harold Melton of the state Supreme Court issued in March. 

The emergency declaration was in response to the coronavirus pandemic and is primarily concerned with limiting the number of people in government buildings, such as for jury trials. It has been re-issued on a monthly basis since March, sometimes with changes to the exact restrictions. 

“Pursuant to OCGA § 38-3-62, during the period of the Order Declaring Statewide Judicial Emergency, the Chief Justice ‘suspends, tolls, extends, and otherwise grants relief from any deadlines or other time schedules or filing requirements imposed by otherwise applicable statutes, rules, regulations, or court orders, whether in civil or criminal cases or administrative matters, including, but not limited to any: … (10) time within which to appeal or to seek the right to appeal any order, ruling, or other determination…,’” the Department of Revenue’s release said.

In Colquitt County, the extension threatens to throw off timetables for setting millage rates for the upcoming fiscal year.

County Administrator Chas Cannon said the county commission still plans to consider setting millage rates at its Sept. 18 meeting, but he also said the commission will have to be “flexible” after the extension was announced. To set accurate millage rates, the commission needs an accurate digest showing the values of taxable properties in the county. Any valuation being appealed won’t be known for certain until the appeal is resolved.

Last year, the Colquitt County Board of Assessors hired an outside firm to adjust the values of commercial property, which Chief Appraiser JimMac Booth said hadn’t been re-valued in roughly 30 years. Because of inflation and other changes over the last three decades, many of the property values doubled.

Since taxes are based on a property’s value, that means those owners’ tax bills doubled too.

Booth said this year has more appeals than any he’s seen in the 12 or 13 years he’s been at the assessors office. About one-third of the county’s commercial properties have appeals on them, he estimated.

Anyone who disputes the new value of his or her property can appeal to the Board of Tax Assessors, (229) 616-7425, Monday-Friday during normal business hours until Aug. 27.