On property tax appeals: how counties set assessed values, when an appeal makes sense, and what the process involves in California, Georgia, and Florida.
The value on your tax bill is not the price your property would sell for. How counties get from market value to assessed value in California, Georgia, and Florida, and why the difference matters for appeals.
Proposition 13 caps how fast your California assessment can rise. Proposition 8 requires the county to lower it when market value falls. How the two interact, and why decline-in-value review is an annual question for commercial owners.
Florida's Truth in Millage notice arrives each August and starts a short clock. What the TRIM notice shows, what the 25-day petition deadline means, and how to read the values on it.
Two Georgia rules worth knowing: the three-year value freeze that follows a completed appeal under O.C.G.A. 48-5-299(c), and the floating homestead exemption from House Bill 581. What each one does and does not do.
Appeal boards want proof, not opinions. The evidence categories that carry weight in commercial assessment appeals: the county's own record, income and expenses, comparable assessments and sales, and condition.
Assessment notices bury the number that matters under the ones that don't. Which line to check on a California, Georgia, or Florida notice, what starts your appeal clock, and what to do in the first week.