Sun Belt County Targets Trophy Assets in High-Stakes Audit

February 18, 2026

Policy Atlanta Data Centers News More Office Southeast

As of now, the initiative focuses on data centers and office buildings. Will this spark a nationwide trend?

Rendering of DC BLOX’s Atlanta West Hyperscale Data Center Campus, in Lithia Springs, Ga. The campus is part of DC BLOX’s data center expansion throughout the Southeast. *Image courtesy of DC BLOX*

The County Board of Commissioners in Fulton County, Ga., Atlanta’s home, has begun an effort to obtain an independent audit of the county’s tax assessment process for high-value commercial properties, including data centers, the Rough Draft Atlanta first reported.

The county has requested proposals from firms seeking the opportunity to audit the county’s numbers; responses are due tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 19.

In addition, Board Chairman Robb Pitts wants to engage outside counsel that has strong expertise in commercial real estate valuations, to back up the county in the event of any property tax appeals.

At the state level, the legislative backdrop to this is that if a bill passed recently by the Georgia Senate is approved by the state’s House of Representatives, it would close a loophole that allowed property taxes on homeowners to exceed the rate of inflation. This bill would then cut revenues to counties and school districts in Georgia—unless the difference could be made up from commercial properties.

In November 2023, as federal COVID relief funding ended, the Atlanta Civic Circle reported that the City of Atlanta, Atlanta Public Schools and Fulton County could be losing out on a total of around $290 million a year in tax revenue as a consequence of what the local media outlet called “the commercial property assessment gap.” That amount was based on a 2023 study by the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy.

As to assessed values not reflecting market values, the Atlanta Civic Circle report noted the example of 1180 Peachtree St., which was assessed at $193.8 million to $193 million from 2018 to 2023, despite selling in 2022 for $472 million.

A larger picture?

Is Fulton County’s audit initiative potentially part of a nationwide trend? The conditions definitely seem ripe for that.

Last July, the National Association of Counties released The Big Shift: An Analysis of the Local Cost of Federal Cuts. It stated that following the passage of the Trump administration’s FY 2026 budget request, “several changes—aimed at reducing federal costs—will shift financial and administrative costs onto subnational levels of government. In a complex intergovernmental structure, these subnational governments, including counties, could see a downstream effect approaching $1 trillion over 10 years.”

A long-time valuation expert with a major national commercial real estate firm, who wanted to remain unidentified, told Commercial Property Executive they’re not aware of any other specific initiatives, but added that data centers “are now a targeted property type nationally, and economic conditions are such that this could very well spread to other markets.”

“Assessors have seen that publicly available investment dollars involved in data centers is unlike any other property type,” he added. “Couple that with the decline in transaction volume, with transactions being the primary mechanism assessors use to assess/raise market values for various property types, and you have potential for substantial assessment/property tax burden increases for data centers over the next several years.”

Office buildings, conversely, have had their assessments lowered—particularly trophy, Class A core office—in many cities, he continued. “With office lease rates, occupancy and sales volume rebounding, I am seeing assessors seek to recoup the somewhat substantial loss in tax base from office valuation declines post-COVID,” the individual added.

If the federal government continues to decrease its financial assistance to localities, only time will tell what the consequences will be for commercial real estate tax assessments.