Kelley Gary (R-Hoschton) Blasts Athens-Clarke County Government for Raising Tax Values
12/23/2009

Kelley Gary (R-Hoschton) Blasts Athens-Clarke County Government for Raising Tax Values and Potentially Violating State Law.

Kelley Gary, candidate for Senate District 47, blasted Athens-Clarke County Government today for wrongly increasing property tax values and commends the lawsuit against them.

In an Athens Banner Herald article published Monday, the ABH outlined a lawsuit filed by Athens attorneys, accusing the Athens-Clarke County government of violating state law by raising tax values.

“I commend the efforts of property owners to fight back against out of control government reassessments of your property in order to raise property taxes without actually voting to raise taxes. It’s just wrong to unfairly increase the value of properties when the actual value is dropping, said Gary.”

“Tax assessors have been ignoring economic reality for two years and now they are ignoring state law. Heidi Davison and the ACC government should ask for a performance review of the tax office, as they are entitled to do, and they should fire the Board of Assessors if the review indicates a pattern of improper assessment. Property taxes are the most unfair tax of all, and the property tax system needs to be scrapped. In the State Senate, I am going to fight to end property taxes for good. We need to end the state portion of the property tax, end the school portion of the property tax, and have comprehensive tax reform that makes taxes simple, objective, fair, and broadly based.”

A respected community leader, Kelley Gary has a long track record of standing up against bad governments that make life harder for our families. He led the petition effort to stop the efforts of the Hoschton City Council to institute a property tax on city homeowners, collecting over 400 signatures to stop the tax increase.