O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 48-5-298 (2019)

Selection of chairman and secretary; employment contracts with persons to assist board; payment of expenses

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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(a) Each county board of tax assessors shall elect one of its members to serve as chairman for each tax year. The election of a chairman shall be the first order of business at the first meeting of the board for each tax year. At the same time, the board shall select from the county appraisal staff one appraiser to act as secretary to the board for that tax year. Each county board of tax assessors, subject to the approval of the county governing authority, may enter into employment contracts with persons to: (1) Assist the board in the mapping, platting, cataloging, indexing, and appraising of taxable properties in the county; (2) Make, subject to the approval of the board, reevaluations of taxable property in the county; and (3) Search out and appraise unreturned properties in the county. (b) Each county board of tax assessors may enter into a contract with any municipality or political subdivision of the state to provide any information for which the board could contract pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section. (c) The expenses of employees engaged and work performed pursuant to this Code section shall be paid, subject to the contracts and after approval by the county governing authority, out of county funds as a

part of the expenses of the board. A county board of education or independent board of education may expend funds to assist in paying the expenses incurred in discovering unreturned properties pursuant to this Code Section for the purpose of collecting unpaid school taxes. The method of such expenditure as provided in this subsection and the amount thereof shall be within the discretion of the county board of education or independent board of education.

History

Ga. L. 1913, p. 123, § 5; Code 1933, § 92-6910; Ga. L. 1937, p. 517, § 1; Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 189, § 1; Ga. L.

1972, p. 1114, § 4; Code 1933, § 91A1447, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1830, § 1.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Claims for compensation to be made to county governing authority. - Board of commissioners of roads and revenues (now county governing authority) has not only the right, but the duty to examine, audit, and approve claims of agents of the board of tax assessors for compensation and expenses; hence, the petition seeking by way of mandamus to require the county treasurer to pay a certain amount for services rendered, failed to state a cause of action. Armistead v. MacNeill, 203 Ga. 204, 45 S.E.2d 652, 1947 Ga. LEXIS 584 (1947). Limits on power to delegate duties and to contract for services. - County board of tax assessors cannot delegate the board’s duties pertaining to the equalization of property valuations for ad valorem taxation, nor can a board contract for a private company to seek out unreturned, taxable property and to reevaluate all property in the county. Bagwell v. Cash, 207 Ga. 222, 60 S.E.2d 628, 1950 Ga. LEXIS 437 (1950). Contingent fee contract void as against public policy. - Contingency contract between a county board of tax assessors and a private auditing corporation by which the corporation contingently shared in a percentage of the tax collected was void as against public policy. Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Parsons, 260 Ga. 824, 401 S.E.2d 4, 1991 Ga. LEXIS 80 (1991). Contract with private firm for audit services proper. - County board of tax

assessors was authorized to contract with a private firm for audit services to aid the board in discovering unreturned and untaxed property. Eckerd Corp. v. Fayette County Bd. of Tax Assessors, 220 Ga. App. 454, 469 S.E.2d 285; Wal-Mart Stores v. Board of Tax Assessors, 246 Ga. App. 161, 539 S.E.2d 869, 2000 Ga. App. LEXIS 1178 (2000). Authority to hire and fire a tax appraiser rested with the board of tax appraisers, not with the board of commissioners which previously approved the employment contract. Chambers v. Fulford, 268 Ga. 892, 495 S.E.2d 6. Payment of contract for employment not considered ratification of contract as a whole. - In a breach of contract action centering around a contract of employment with a county employer and the county’s board of tax assessors, because the employment contract was never approved by the county commission, and the county’s payment of a salary to the employee was not considered a ratification of the contract in the contract’s entirety, the employee possessed only an at-will employment. Thus, summary judgment was properly entered against the employee. Powell v. Wheeler County, 290 Ga. App. 508, 659 S.E.2d 893, 2008 Ga. App. LEXIS 362 (2008), cert. denied, No. S08C1300, 2008 Ga. LEXIS 686 (Ga. Sept. 8, 2008).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Employees beyond minimum staff requirements. - Individuals employed in the Ben Hill County Tax Assessor’s office above and beyond the minimum staff requirements are employees of the Ben Hill County Board of Tax Assessors, not the board of county commissioners, and the Ben Hill County Board of Tax Assessors need not obtain the approval of the Ben Hill County Board of Commissioners before terminating the employment of those individuals. 1985 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U85-25. Secretary of a county board of tax assessors can legally serve as a tax commissioner under former Code 1933, §§ 92-6903, 92-6907, and 92-6910 (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 48-5-290, 48-5-292, and 48-5-298). 1952-53 Ga. Op. Att’y Gen. 303.

Contracts with nonresident corporations for services. - Nonresident corporations may enter into contracts with county boards of tax assessors to assist such boards in mapping, platting, cataloging, indexing, and appraising of taxable property, and to make reevaluations of taxable property, and to search out and appraise unreturned properties in such counties. 1957 Ga. Op. Att’y Gen. 27. Payment for survey and appraisal from taxes levied for school purposes. - County which contracts for the surveying and appraisal of taxable property may not pay any part of the cost of such services from the taxes levied for school purposes. 1952-53 Ga. Op. Att’y Gen. 341.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 11 cases, 1991–2015 · leading case: Eckerd Corp. v. Fayette Cnty. Bd. of Tax Assessors, 469 S.E.2d 285 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Eckerd Corp. v. Fayette Cnty. Bd. of Tax Assessors, 469 S.E.2d 285 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 28× “Eckerd further enumerates that the trial court erred by finding that the Board properly contracted Mendola to provide it audit services.”
Fulton Cnty. Bd. of Assessors v. Saks Fifth Avenue, Inc., 547 S.E.2d 620 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001). · cites it 12× “See OCGA § 48-5-298. In Eckerd Corp. v. Fayette County Bd.”
City of Atlanta v. North by Nw. Civic Ass'n, 422 S.E.2d 651 (Ga. 1992). · cites it 6× “The county entered the contract under the authority of OCGA § 48-5-298 (a), which provides, among other things, that a county may hire private individuals to assist in appraising property in the county.”
Chambers v. Fulford, 495 S.E.2d 6 (Ga. 1998). · cites it 8× “A majority of the board of commissioners appeal, asserting they are not obligated under OCGA §§ 48-5-298 or 48-5-263 (c) to appropriate county money to honor a contract of employment between the board of tax assessors and Powell.”
Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Parsons, 401 S.E.2d 4 (Ga. 1991). · cites it 2× “We agree with the trial court that OCGA § 48-5-298 (a) (3) 1 expressly allows the Board, subject to the approval of the county governing authority, to contract with entities, such as Atlantic, to *825 “[s]earch out and appraise unreturned properties in the county.”
Smith v. Turner, 764 F. Supp. 632 (N.D. Ga. 1991). · cites it 4× “Although O.C.G.A. § 48-5-298 provides that a chairman’s term is for one tax year, the fact that the election of a chairman may be delayed until April 22 indicates that “one tax year” does not mean a term of exactly twelve months.”
Greater Georgia Amusements, LLC v. State, 728 S.E.2d 744 (Ga. Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 2× “824 ( 401 SE2d 4 ) (1991), the Court held that even though a board of tax assessors had the authority to contract with private entities to “search out and appraise unreturned properties,” OCGA § 48-5-298 (a) (3), a contingency compensation scheme for those services was void as…”
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Bd. of Tax Assessors, 539 S.E.2d 869 (Ga. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 6× “OCGA § 48-5-298 (a) provides that each county board of tax assessors may, subject to the approval of the county governing authority, employ people to: (1) Assist the board in the mapping, platting, cataloging, indexing, and appraising of taxable properties in the county; (2)…”
Powell v. Wheeler Cnty., 659 S.E.2d 893 (Ga. Ct. App. 2008). · cites it 6× “OCGA § 48-5-298 (a) provides, in pertinent part: “Each county board of tax assessors, subject to the approval of the county governing authority, may enter into employment contracts with persons to.”
Nikki Ballard v. Chattooga Cnty. Bd. of Tax Assessors, 615 F. App'x 621 (11th Cir. 2015). “; O.C.G.A. § 48-5-298(a), it follows that the authority to alter the duration of the employment contract remains with that body, not with the board of commissioners, which previously approved the contract.”
Greater Georgia Amusements, LLC v. State of Ga (Ga. Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 2× “824 ( 401 SE2d 4 ) (1991), the Court held that even though a board of tax assessors had the authority to contract with private entities to “search out and appraise unreturned properties,” OCGA § 48-5-298 (a) (3), a contingency compensation scheme for those services was void as…”
— 48-5-298(a) — 3 cases
Eckerd Corp. v. Fayette Cnty. Bd. of Tax Assessors, 469 S.E.2d 285 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). “Eckerd further enumerates that the trial court erred by finding that the Board properly contracted Mendola to provide it audit services.”
Smith v. Turner, 764 F. Supp. 632 (N.D. Ga. 1991). “Although O.C.G.A. § 48-5-298 provides that a chairman’s term is for one tax year, the fact that the election of a chairman may be delayed until April 22 indicates that “one tax year” does not mean a term of exactly twelve months.”
Nikki Ballard v. Chattooga Cnty. Bd. of Tax Assessors, 615 F. App'x 621 (11th Cir. 2015). “; O.C.G.A. § 48-5-298(a), it follows that the authority to alter the duration of the employment contract remains with that body, not with the board of commissioners, which previously approved the contract.”
— 48-5-298(a)(3) — 1 case
Eckerd Corp. v. Fayette Cnty. Bd. of Tax Assessors, 469 S.E.2d 285 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). “Eckerd further enumerates that the trial court erred by finding that the Board properly contracted Mendola to provide it audit services.”
— 48-5-298(b) — 1 case
Eckerd Corp. v. Fayette Cnty. Bd. of Tax Assessors, 469 S.E.2d 285 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). “Eckerd further enumerates that the trial court erred by finding that the Board properly contracted Mendola to provide it audit services.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.