City of Atlanta homeowners have some stability in their property tax bills thanks to a recently passed referendum.

Starting next year, taxable values cannot increase more than 2.6% per year for primary residences. Note: if you own an investment property in the city of Atlanta, that property is not covered in this measure.

To set the new taxable value in 2019, homeowners may choose the lowest value from 2016, 2017, or 2018, plus 4.23% to account for inflation. It’s not clear how the tax assessor office will contact each homeowner to figure this out.

Great, so what should we expect over the next several years?

As you know, the tax assessor’s office hasn’t increased taxable values since 2016, so expect a 4.23% increase from 2017 values. To find out what that value was, visit https://www.fultoncountytaxes.org/property-taxes/search-for-tax-bill.aspx.

For 2020 and beyond, expect your property’s taxable value to increase 2.6% each year until the value reaches actual fair market value. Also expect the taxable value to continue to increase even as FMV start to decline.

Stay with me… since there is wide gap between taxable values and FMV, it could take many years for the taxable value to catch up to FMV. During that time, FMV could “soften” as we move to a more balanced housing market.

When taxable value and FMV are equal, then expect taxable value to continue to increase with inflation, but not more than 2.6% each year. 

It’s kinda nice to know what to expect!