The DeKalb County Property Assessor’s Office has launched a new website to give residents easier access to property assessment information and services.
DeKalb County Property Assessor Shannon Cantrell said he was inspired to create a website for the office after noticing that other property assessors had online platforms. Cantrell said the website offers several features, including tools that allow residents to calculate property taxes, close businesses, and informally appeal a property value online.
“Just a ton of information on there and it has been used a little bit already,” Cantrell said. “People are sending emails in to close businesses and ask questions, and so it’s been beneficial this far.”
Cantrell said the website took several weeks to form, but he is pleased with how user-friendly the site is. Cantrell said the new website has already helped many people throughout the short time it has been up.
“Right now, we’ve had mail-in-address changes,” Cantrell said. “For example, if somebody’s building a home, they don’t have an address or mailbox up where they’re building a home, and so they use their current home address, and so they can go on there once the home is built, and they get an address at their new home, and change the mail-in address. We’ve had a few of those.”
Cantrell said another service that has already been very useful is closing their business using the website.
“For example, you click on report, or report to close a business, it has a place for the business name, the owner’s name, a good daytime phone number, an email, mailing address, business location, and then the date the business closed, a place for additional comments, and then you submit that,” Cantrell said. “What we do is, once we receive it, we’ll close it for the date that you gave us, and then send you a follow-up email letting you know that it is inactive.”
Cantrell said the website will also help his staff be more productive in other areas of service by reducing the call volume. He said with property assessment information being on the website, he thinks it will be huge for the county, especially as they head into a reappraisal year.
“Sometimes, you know, that’s the easiest way to do it,” Cantrell said. “You can go in there and get some of the most, you know, common questions that are asked. You can find that just right there on the website, and no need to, you know, call the office and speak to someone, even though you’re welcome to do so. But it’s just another tool that people can use to be informed, for a big part, to be informed on matters that are going on in the county, as far as property assessments are concerned.
Cantrell said the website has been up for a few weeks and has received positive feedback from residents about the website. Cantrell said he is trying to get the word out about the new website.
“I think the more it gets out there, the more the website is out there and available, and people find it, I think that it will become more and more valuable as time goes on,” Cantrell said.