A new chief tax appraiser was hired on Monday, the same day that 2018 tax assessment notices were mailed out to residents of Dawson County.

Elaine Garrett was hired to fill the position after a vote by the board of assessors June 4.

Garrett has over 24 years of experience in local county government and was most recently employed as Appeal Coordinator and Appraiser III in the tax assessor's office, a job she had held since 2013.

According to her resume, Garrett has been employed at the county since 1994 when she was hired as Deputy Clerk of Courts at the Dawson County Clerk of Courts Office. She was legal assistant and office manager to the district attorney from 1998 to 2002 and returned to the clerk of courts office as Chief Deputy Clerk of Courts in 2002.

She is certified by the Georgia Department of Revenue as an Appraiser III, Appraiser II and Appraiser I.

She holds a master’s degree in early childhood education from Brenau University in Gainesville.

Board of Assessors Chairman Sam Gutherie said that Garrett had all of the necessary qualifications for the job.

Garrett is replacing Kurt Tangel, who held the position from June 2013 to May 21, 2018. 

Garrett said Monday that she is looking forward to continuing working with the employees in the tax assessor's office and serving the citizens of Dawson County.
She is taking on the job at a time when the office is anticipating a lot of calls and complaints from citizens about the contents of their tax assessment notices. The office began working on the first total-county revaluation since 2006 in June of last year.

The county’s approximately 15,000 parcels of real property were scheduled to be assessed, with residential and agricultural property evaluated the first year and commercial and industrial evaluated in the second.

The residential portion has been completed and those assessments will be reflected in the notices, Garrett said.