be breathing a lot easier.

Mills is the department head

at the Fayette County Tax Assessors Office, and by the first Tuesday in

August, she'll know how many angry taxpayers are filing appeals of their

new tax assessments.

"Last year, we had about

700 appeals, and expect to have about 500 this year," she said.

So far, 224 residents have

complained about their assessments and have started down the lengthy path

of appealing the new value of their homes.

With 37,000 parcels to assess,

Mills' office stays busy. The office has 14 employees and half the department

physically examines about 3,000 homes a year, she said.

The rest of the appraisals

are based on home sales in the area, which the office examines on a daily

basis to determine housing trends in the county.

One of the biggest groups that

has gotten large appraisals in recent years has been older homes built

in the 1960s and 1970s, she said.

"With less new construction

going on in the county, the older homes are really starting to appreciate

in value. They represent the easiest way to enter into the county,"

she said.

Preliminary figures show homes

in the county are worth nearly $6.8 billion on this year's tax digest,

compared to $6.1 billion last year. Personal homes represent nearly 80

percent of the tax base in the county. (See box.)

Residents may think that assessments

are appearing a lot quicker than they used to, and they're right. In 1999,

the county started sending out yearly reassessments to keep from paying

penalties to the Department of Revenue.

"Our assessments have

to be within 10 percent of the fair market value over a three-year period

or some serious penalties can occur," Mills said.

Penalties including losing

state grants and cash payments to the Department of Revenue convinced

the county to go to a yearly reassessment, she said.

In looking at this year's tax

digest figures, Tyrone showed the biggest increase over last year. Tyrone's

residential property values jumped 22.4 percent, while homes in the unincorporated

county rose 9 percent. Peachtree City saw a 8.76 percent jump in value,

while Brooks had an 8.37 percent increase. Fayetteville had the lowest

increase at 8.34 percent. The figures include reassessments and new construction.

When the tax digest is complete

in August, Mills will have an exact handle on the value of reassessments

that she will forward on to the county's governments for the setting of

the millage rate.

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