More than 850 people already have appealed a city assessment of their home or property, and local attorney Zane Leiden is among them.

He says he bought his Summerville-area house on Windsor Court just 1 1/2 years ago for about 32 percent less than the appraised value he received in the mail earlier this month. That his home's price could escalate that much in slightly more than a year is unreasonable, he said.

Mr. Leiden's appeal, which he filed in the Richmond County Tax Assessor's office earlier this month, is still pending, as are hundreds more. But there's still plenty of time - 15 business days - for other complaints to be filed. The deadline to appeal is Monday, Sept. 16.

The owners of more than 54,000 homes and properties throughout Richmond County saw their taxable values increase this year.

Assessment notices, which were mailed out Aug. 2, were the first since 1999 to reflect any kind of increase, and it has meant skyrocketing values for thousands of homeowners. Many are looking at increases ranging from 3 percent in south Augusta to more than 35 percent on the Hill.

"If there was some rhyme or reason to it," Mr. Leiden said, he might not have been so quick to appeal.

But, in addition to thinking his appraisal is erroneous, he says he and many of his friends and neighbors think the countywide revaluation is simply a way for the government to get more money.

"The city is going to have a budget shortfall, so instead of raising everybody's taxes, it's an easy shortcut to say everybody's property is worth more," Mr. Leiden said. "I think a lot of people feel that way."

Tax officials have said the property values escalated so much this year mainly because of computer equipment that was not Y2K compliant, which left the city's property values essentially frozen for three years. Some pieces of south Augusta property, for example, were valued at $350 an acre, which is an extremely low price, Richmond County Chief Appraiser Sonny Reece said. That property is now appraised at $1,200 an acre, he said.

Mr. Reece said he has heard from many people who say they believe the revaluation has been manufactured by the local government to create a windfall in property tax collections.

But that isn't possible, he said.

"I'm not getting any pressure from the commission to do this. My pressure is coming from the state Department of Revenue," Mr. Reece said.

STATE LAW requires that all properties be assessed at 100 percent of market value - what they would sell for.

Every three years, the state audits the city to ensure that all properties are appraised at 100 percent of market value and assessed at 40 percent of that value. If, during that audit, the state Department of Revenue determines that properties are selling for less than 38 percent of their appraised value or more than 42 percent above their appraised value, the government could be fined.

Based on the 2001 countywide digest, Augusta's fine would be $458,887, the tax assessor's office reports.

But what many people don't realize, tax officials say, is that the only way the city can profit more from property taxes is to raise the mill rate.

Augusta Chronicle

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2002