O.C.G.A. § 48-5-157 (2019)

If a tax collector, tax commissioner, or his sureties are held liable on proceedings by citation, on appeal, or in any other action for having failed by reason of his negligence or bad faith to collect any taxes, the tax collector or tax commissioner, or his surety paying off any liability thus established, shall be entitled to have the tax execution or executions transferred to him. If the execution or executions relate both to state and county taxes, the commissioner and the county governing authority, or either of them, may make the transfer as to both state and county taxes and any other tax included in the execution. As to such taxes, the tax collector, tax commissioner, or his surety paying the judgment, order, or decree fixing liability for the taxes shall be subrogated to all the rights of the state, county, and other public body for whose benefit the tax was levied.