By: Robin Ford Wallace, Staff Reporter

After a hearing in Dade Superior Court Aug. 27, a lawsuit against the county that has dragged on for several years will drag on a little longer.

Judge Brian House will rule in the case of Rex Blevins vs. Dade County Board of Tax Assessors only after a final bout of paper-rattling between the opposing attorneys. Christopher Townley, attorney for Blevins, was granted 10 days to read and respond to a trial brief filed at the hearing by Dade County Attorney Robin Rogers. Rogers will then have an opportunity to respond to the response, and the judge will rule shortly thereafter.

Judge House is usually prompt about issuing judgments once all the evidence is in and the arguments made, said Townley after the hearing.

But Judge House’s word may not be the final one. “If he rules for the county, we’re going to take it on to the next step,” vowed Blevins, interviewed in the courtroom after the hearing. 

“The next step” is an appeal to a federal court.

County Executive Ted Rumley, also interviewed later, said that, should the county lose this round, he didn’t know if Dade would appeal or not. The county has already spent close to $100,000 defending itself, he said. However, if the judge rules against Blevins, the county will immediately file to recoup its legal costs from him. “It will be interesting to see where he gets the money to pay his lawyer’s fees back,” said Rumley.     

The case stems from Georgia House Bills 918 and 919, collectively called the Homestead Freeze, which were passed by public referendum in 2002 and became law in 2003. The bills provide that, for purposes of real estate and school taxes, the valuation of an eligible property – a personal dwelling and up to three acres – be frozen at the level of the year immediately prior to the one the exemption is applied for. 

The referendum passed by an overwhelming margin, but Rex Blevins, a county commissioner at the time, opposed it and decided to pursue that opposition as a private citizen. He filed an appeal to the superior court in 2007 after appeals to the Board of Assessors and the Board of Equalization successively failed to win his point.

That point? “You just cannot keep exempting people,” said Blevins. “If you’ve got 100 people paying taxes, you take 25 of them off, your budget stays the same, the other 75 are going to pay it.”

Blevins said that it is simply wrong for politicians to promise lower taxes in exchange for votes. “Any individual that presents something to the voter and says if you vote for this you won’t have to pay taxes – now, how many people do you know that’s not going to jump through hoops to vote for that?” he said.

Blevins and Townley made the argument during the hearing that granting a tax exemption to people eligible to apply for it in that year puts them in a favored class over those who buy later, offending standards of uniformity. “What you’re basically saying is, if you’re living right here and you’re voting right now, you’re going to get a tax break and we’re going to take care of you, compared to other folks that come in and buy property later,” said Townley.

Townley explained later that, should he and Blevins win their case, Dade homeowners going forward will pay taxes as if the Homestead Freeze had never passed. There would be no retroactive adjustments, he said.

The county’s position is that the Homestead Freeze is a beneficial and legally enacted measure that protects ordinary homeowners from inflationary forces. 

At the hearing, County Attorney Rogers pressed Blevins on whether he would oppose any exemption regardless of whether it was by local option or general statute. Blevins said older people should be exempt from school taxes. “But everybody that’s able to pay taxes should pay taxes,” he said.

Rogers pointed out that the millage rate has actually gone down a fraction since 2004. Townley countered that actual taxes collected have gone up by a million dollars or so during the same time.

Witnesses besides Blevins included County Executive Rumley, County Clerk Don Townsend and Chief Appraiser Paula Duvall.

Townley was assisted by an associate attorney, Thomas Lindsay.