Section 48-5-346. Effect of conditionally approving next subsequent digest

   (a) (1) If a county tax digest for its preceding digest review year was conditionally approved and the commissioner conditionally approves the digest for the next subsequent digest review year for the same or substantially the same reasons, the commissioner shall order the payment of the specific penalty as provided in this Code section and the withholding from the county of the state grants specified in this paragraph. The Office of the State Treasurer and any other state agency or officer shall upon such order's taking effect permanently withhold from the county any funds otherwise becoming payable during the withholding period specified in subsection (b) of this Code section to the county under:

      (A) The road mileage grant program specified in Article 1 of Chapter 17 of Title 36;

      (B) The county appraisal staff grant program specified in Code Section 48-5-267; and

      (C) The public road grant program specified in Code Section 48-14-3.

   (2) In addition to the withholding of state grant funds specified in this Code section, a specific penalty is levied which shall be $5.00 per taxable parcel of real property located in the county as of January 1 of the year in which the penalty is levied and it shall be paid by the governing authority of the county to the commissioner.

(b) The withholding of the grants and moneys shall begin not later than five days after all appeals have been exhausted, or the time for appeal has expired, and shall continue until such time as the digest is satisfactorily corrected as to the deficiencies identified by the commissioner that resulted in the digest being initially conditionally approved. The levy of the specific penalty shall be made at the same time that the withholding of grants begins and it shall be paid to the commissioner within 60 days after the commissioner has notified the county of the amount of such penalty.

(c) The commissioner shall determine and publish in print or electronically annually a list of all available state grants which will be withheld in accordance with this Code section.

(d) If the digest for the preceding digest review year was conditionally approved and the commissioner conditionally approves the digest submitted in the next subsequent digest review year for different reasons, the county shall not have any penalties assessed or state grants withheld as a result of such conditional approval.

Code 1981, § 48-5-346, enacted by Ga. L. 1988, p. 1763, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 728, § 5; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2494, § 7; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1402, § 18; Ga. L. 2010, p. 863, § 2/SB 296; Ga. L. 2010, p. 838, § 10/SB 388.