The Cobb County Tax Assessor office is being thrown under the bus by some people that are upset by property tax abatements. The issue that is front and center is a planned mixed use development near the proposed Braves stadium in the Cumberland area. It is interesting that the proposed abatement for the mixed use development has only become "big news" since the announcement of the Braves move to Cobb County. 

The development, known as Riverwalk, is in close proximity to the proposed Braves stadium. As many Cobb County residents were already upset about bankrolling the new stadium with public funds, it isn't surprising that the Riverwalk tax abatement was dragged out front and center. As reported in the Smyrna-Vinings Patch the Development Authority of Cobb County approved a letter of intent to issue $103 million in bonds for the development on September 17, 2013. The Braves deal was announced on November 11, 2013. 

In the Atlanta Metropolitan area there are many property tax consulting firms. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, Georgia tax law does not require that the counties appraise all properties every year, and infrequent appraisals often resulted in large percentage increases in value. Also, the county tax assessors’ values were incorrect in many cases and unfair (inequitable) in others. When property owners get large increases in tax assessments and corresponding tax bills in general they are outraged and want to do something about it. That is why there are so many property tax consultants in the Atlanta Metro area.