Gateway Pines Hahira, Lp v. Lowndes County Board of Tax Assessors

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: December 3, 2025
• Docket: A23A1370
• Status: Published

Opinion

FIFTH DIVISION MCFADDEN, P. J., RICKMAN, P. J., and MERCIER, J.

NOTICE: Motions for reconsideration must be physically received in our clerk’s office within ten days of the date of decision to be deemed timely filed. https://www.gaappeals.us/rules

December 3, 2025

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A23A1370. GATEWAY PINES HAHIRA, LP v. LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF TAX ASSESSORS.

RICKMAN, Presiding Judge.

This case concerning the ad valorem tax assessment of a rent-restricted

apartment complex is before us on remand from the Supreme Court of Georgia. In

Gateway Pines Hahira, LP v. Lowndes County Bd. of Tax Assessors, 372 Ga. App. 705,

705 (906 SE2d 421) (2024), this Court affirmed the trial court’s grant of partial

summary judgment to the Lowndes County Board of Tax Assessors. In Division 2 of

our opinion, we held that the trial court did not err by finding that “the income

approach [to valuation of property] is inapplicable and may not be used based on the

current structure of the tax credits which does not provide any actual income to the

taxpayer.” Id. at 711 (2) (punctuation omitted). Our Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider whether “tax assessors [are]

permitted to use the income approach to determine the fair market value of a property

with low-income housing tax credits.” The Supreme Court answered the certiorari

question in the affirmative, reversed the judgment of this Court, and remanded the

case for further proceedings consistent with its opinion. Gateway Pines Hahira, LP v.

Lowndes County Bd. of Tax Assessors, 322 Ga. 442, 448-51 (3) (920 SE2d 140) (2025).

On remand, we vacate Division 2 of our opinion and adopt the Supreme Court’s

opinion as our own with respect to that division. Divisions 1 and 3 of our opinion were

not affected by the Supreme Court’s decision and thus remain in effect. See Shadix

v. Carroll County, 274 Ga. 560, 563-64 (1) (554 SE2d 465) (2001).

Judgment affirmed in part and reversed in part, and case remanded. McFadden, P.

J., and Mercier, J., concur.