Urban Planning: GIS for Local Government Participation Assignment

Part 1:

1. Conduct a web search to locate a property appraiser’s office in your area.

Q1: Does your property appraiser offer a web mapping site? If so, what is the webaddress? If not, what is the method in which you may obtain the data?

I conducted a web search for the Liberty County, GA Assessors Office. I located their web mapping site called PRISYM at gis.libertycountyga.com/flex2/index.html 

2. Most property appraiser’s websites offer a list of recent property sales by month. Search for the month of June for the current year and locate the highest property sold.

Q2: What was the selling price of this property? What was the previous selling price of this property (if applicable)? Take a screen shot of the description provided to include with this answer.

A search of sales for the month of June in the current year returned no sales. After contacting this property appraiser I found out that they have not yet posted the current year sales for the month of June. So I searched for sales in the month of June for the prior year. The selling price for the highest property sold was $728,000. The previous selling price for this property according to the property record card was $700,000;

3. The selling price and assessed price will differ in most cases (higher or lower). 

Q3: What is the assessed land value? Based on land record data, is the assessed land value higher or lower than the last sale price? Include a screen shot.

According to the property record card the land value of this property is $466,650 which is lower than the last sale price.

Q4: Share additional information about this piece of land that you find interesting. Many times, a link to the deed will be available providing more insight to the sale.

A link to the deed for this land is not provided on the site but reviewing the sale info on property record card above indicates that this property is a Shoney's Restaurant that was foreclosed on by the bank.

Part 2:

Land Assessment Values

Q5: Which accounts do you think need review based on land value and what you've learned about assessment?

Based simply on land value, I believe that accounts 090310105, 090310165, 090310175, 090310245, 090310260, 090310320 & 090310325 need to be reviewed. Typically, all lots within a planned subdivision have uniform land values. Granted each lot may not sell for exactly the same price because one buyer may choose to pay a little extra for a corner lot or a lot on a cul-de-sac, or a lot may sell for less if it has heavy traffic. But the purpose of the property appraiser is to conduct mass appraisals in a uniform and equitable manner. Local governments then base their budget on the these values and in turn property taxes. So when outliers appear within a subdivision like this, they must be re-evaluated for fairness.