Monday, June 18, 2012
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By now you should have received your property tax appraisal
and may be pleased to see that this is reduced and (as long as there is not an
increase in the millage rate) you may be paying less tax this year than last
year. However if you are one of the folks who live around the lake and a
field assessor has visited you in the last 6 months or so you may be less
pleased to see extra photos (beyond the customary front view of your home)
posted on a public website. These photos, until about three weeks ago, also included docks as well as views from
private patios, decks and even included dogs behind a fence!
Initially I brought this privacy and security issue to the
attention of the Dawson Tax Assessors Office
some six weeks ago and was told that it was their legal right to post
publically any photos the field assessors had taken. However the Georgia
legislation (Tax and Revenue 48-5-314) is extremely vague, and makes no
reference to the content of online public records of private property.
Common sense and reason might indicate that such additional photo postings
provide would be thieves with shopping lists and locations.
Some three weeks ago the Dawson News and Advertiser
published a DCHCA letter to the editor highlighting these issues. Following
this publication I have spoken personally with the Chief Appraiser, the Board
of Assessors Chairman, the BOC Chairman, and some of the County Commissioners. I
have sent all the Commissioners email examples of these extra photos, as well
as notifying our State Senator, those currently running for District 9 State House Representative seat
and the GA Department of Revenue
about the need to update the legislation to protect not just our private
property rights but also to safeguard the
security of our homes.
Although these actions by the DCHCA have been successful in
getting the Tax Assessors Office to remove photographs of docks, many of the
other views around the back and sides of lake homes, including the property
owner’s vehicle with legible license tags in the driveway, still remain
publicly accessible and downloadable.
With your help the DCHCA will continue to request that our
elected leaders formulate and enforce a policy that will protect both our
private property rights and the security of our homes, by removing the existing
“extra photographs” currently posted on the Dawson Tax Assessors public
website, and preventing similar extra photos, beyond the traditional front
aspect of a home, from being uploaded in the future not just for the “lake
front” homes but all homes countywide. Check your property card online and let
the Dawson Tax Assessors Office and your
elected leaders know your preference for “extra photographs” of your property
being published and available for downloading by anyone on a public website.
For Dawson County Homeowners Civic Association
www.dawsoncountyhomeowners.org
To check YOUR property card online click the
following link (taken from the Dawson County Government website) http://www.dawsontaxassessors.org/index.html
- Click on “Search Records”
tab at the top left of the page – when a new page appears click on the
statement Yes,
I accept the above statement and want to Search Records. The next
page that comes up gives you choices of how to search - typing your last name
in the box will bring up all property cards for that family name….scroll
through these to find yours, click on “Parcel Number” on left side of the page
to bring up your “property card”.
Photos can be viewed by clicking on “Building Image”.
These are generally just the standard front aspect of the home but if you have
a “lake” property you may find additional photos publically published under
“Land Information”. If “show photo” appears here click it. You may see your
deck, patio, a view over Public Lands managed by the Corps of Engineers and
perhaps a tree, your vehicle, a fishpond or
your dogs in your backyard!
Note: Currently the quality of aerial
photography published on the Tax Assessor’s website is not uniform for the
entire county. The Lake area and Dawson Forest are featured in high resolution
aerial photography (but not sufficient to read license tags!) Further north and
west of the Lake there is an intermediate resolution (less detail is
identifiable) and in the far western areas of the county the aerial photography
is much more fuzzy. The website allows the viewer to pan 360 degrees aerially
around a property, zooming in and out to ascertain more detail. None of these
angles feature anything like the detail or resolution of the photos taken by a
field assessor on foot.
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