Judge: Muscogee property tax freeze unconstitutional

AMERICUS - A Superior Court judge has ruled that a property tax freeze in Muscogee County is unconstitutional because it unfairly shifts the tax burden to newcomers and poorer homeowners. <br> <br> In a decision that could affect other local governments in Georgia, Judge George M. Peagler Jr. said the tax freeze violates equal protection and due process provisions of the U.S. Constitution because it treats similar property owners differently. <br> <br> Peagle ruled late Monday in a lawsuit that was moved from Columbus to Sumter County after judges in Muscogee County chose not to hear the case because they are property owners. <br> <br> Plaintiffs in the Columbus lawsuit argued that new homeowners were forced to shoulder the burden of paying more in property taxes because others were able to benefit from the frozen assessments. <br> <br> Also, because the property of wealthy homeowners tends to rise in value more sharply, they were provided a greater benefit than poorer homeowners. <br> <br> ``The benefit of paying no tax on increasing cost over 20 years has to be paid by someone else, and this falls on the very poor,&#39;&#39; said Randolph Thrower, attorney for the Columbus taxpayers who filed the suit. <br> <br> The tax freeze law was approved overwhelmingly by Columbus voters in 1982. Under the law, if someone bought a home valued at $150,000, they would continue to pay taxes based on that value. If they sold the home years later for $200,000, the buyer would pay higher taxes based on that price. <br> <br> Peagler noted that in one Columbus neighborhood, a homeowner paid 4,000 percent more in property tax than his neighbor with a similar home. <br> <br> The judge&#39;s ruling could ripple to Chatham, Cobb and Gwinnett counties and some municipalities where homeowners&#39; county property taxes are frozen for as long as they live in the home. <br> <br> The newest laws provided for an increase in homestead exemptions rather than a freeze in the property value. That fine point may be argued in future suits. <br> <br> Before the laws were enacted, homeowners often faced increased taxes because the assessed value of their homes rose. <br> <br> Gwinnett County Manager Charlotte Nash said challenges to her county&#39;s law - and elsewhere - are practically a certainty. <br> <br> ``If there&#39;s success in one area, it leads to ideas that there could be success in others,&#39;&#39; Nash said. ``I suspect there will be people looking at ours wondering if they can challenge it.&#39;&#39;