The Fulton County property appraiser is the chief appraiser that works for the Fulton County Board of Tax Assessors. In the state of Florida the tax assessor is often called the property appraiser so there may be some confusion in terminology. If you're looking for a real estate appraiser that works in Fulton County, Georgia see Atlanta Real Property Advisors.
The Fulton County chief appraiser is hired by the Fulton County Board of Tax Assessors to administer the tax assessment department. The chief appraiser has several deputy chief appraisers working for him or her to help with the management of this large department. The staff consists of residential appraisers, commercial appraisers, personal property appraisers, geographic information systems personnel, and administrative staff.
You can find the Fulton County tax assessor's website by searching for it on Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Fulton County tax assessor's office recently changed their website from one that was administered by the company that owns their mass appraisal software, to one administered by qPublic, which has been taking over the state of Georgia, so to speak, in terms of County tax assessor websites.
The Fulton County property appraiser, or chief appraiser, has an office in the Fulton County Government Center in downtown Atlanta, at 141 Prior St. SW. Much of the Fulton County tax assessor staff is headquartered here, but there are satellite offices in North and South Fulton County. Depending on where you live, you might want to check with the main office on Prior Street before you head in to talk to somebody about your tax assessment. Finding parking downtown and then finding out you should be somewhere else is not much fun.
The chief appraiser is hired by the Board of Tax Assessors. The Board of Tax Assessors is appointed by the Fulton County commissioners. The commissioners are elected officials and the fact that they appoint the board of tax assessors makes those appointments political. The chief appraiser has to deal with the politics of Atlanta and the ongoing grudge between North and South Fulton County. There are five persons appointed to the Board of Tax Assessors and as long as the chief appraiser keeps three of the five happy, his or her job is secure.
The Fulton County tax assessor’s office has been in the news a lot over the years. Approximately 10 years ago there was a scandal when it was revealed that several of the commercial appraisers had taken gifts from various property tax consultants. Since that time the tax assessors hired Tyler Technologies, their mass appraisal software provider, to re-value all of the commercial property in the County. Some values doubled or more, and over the next two years many of the values were rolled back, some to where they were before. Recently, a member of the Board of Tax Assessors lost his real estate appraisal license due to what was apparently poor appraisal standards.
I worked for the Fulton County Board of Tax Assessors for approximately 4 years, and while I was there I like to think that I was part of the solution. Fulton County has hundreds of thousands of parcels, not enough staff to deal with it all, and some staff that don’t take their job seriously. I’m not saying that they’re all bad eggs. There are good appraisers there that know their jobs and will treat you fairly. Fulton is a big County, and things end up falling through the cracks, unintentionally or intentionally.
If you search for Fulton County property appraiser on Google, you will find the Fulton County tax assessor’s office ranked at the top of the first page. However, in the tax assessor’s office as I have stated, there is no such thing as the property appraiser. The chief appraiser is hired by the Board of Tax Assessors and together they manage the business of the Fulton County tax assessment office. If you have any additional questions will be happy to help. We specialize in property tax appeal work.
