Selection of chairman and secretary; employment contracts with persons to assist board; payment of expenses.

(b) Each county board of tax assessors may enter into a contract with any municipality or political subdivision of the state to provide any information for which the board could contract pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section.

(c) The expenses of employees engaged and work performed pursuant to this Code section shall be paid, subject to the contracts and after approval by the county governing authority, out of county funds as a part of the expenses of the board. A county board of education or independent board of education may expend funds to assist in paying the expenses incurred in discovering unreturned properties pursuant to this Code Section for the purpose of collecting unpaid school taxes. The method of such expenditure as provided in this subsection and the amount thereof shall be within the discretion of the county board of education or independent board of education. History. Ga. L. 1913, p. 123, § 5; Code 1933, § 92-6910; Ga. L. 1937, p. 517, § 1; Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 189, § 1; Ga. L. 1972, p. 1114, § 4; Code 1933, § 91A-1447, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1830, § 1. JUDICIAL DECISIONS Claims for compensation to be made to county governing authority. — Board of commissioners of roads and revenues (now county governing authority) has not only the right, but the duty to examine, audit, and approve claims of agents of the board of tax assessors for compensation and expenses; hence, the petition seeking by way of mandamus to require the county treasurer to pay a certain amount for services rendered, failed to state a cause of action. Armistead v. MacNeill, 203 Ga. 204, 45 S.E.2d 652, 1947 Ga. LEXIS 584 (1947). Limits on power to delegate duties and to contract for services. — County board of tax assessors cannot delegate the board’s duties pertaining to the equalization of property valuations for ad valorem taxation, nor can a board contract for a private company to seek out unreturned, taxable property and to reevaluate all property in the county. Bagwell v. Cash, 207 Ga. 222, 60 S.E.2d 628, 1950 Ga. LEXIS 437 (1950). Contingent fee contract void as against public policy. — Contingency contract between a county board of tax assessors and a private auditing corporation by which the corporation contingently shared in a percentage of the tax collected was void as against public policy. Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Parsons, 260 Ga. 824, 401 S.E.2d 4, 1991 Ga. LEXIS 80 (1991). Contract with private firm for audit services proper. — County board of tax assessors was authorized to contract with a private firm for audit services to aid the board in discovering unreturned and untaxed property. Eckerd Corp. v. Fayette County Bd. of Tax Assessors, 220 Ga. App. 454, 469 S.E.2d 285, 1996 Ga. App. LEXIS 111 (1996), cert. denied, No. S96C1011, 1996 Ga. LEXIS 627 (Ga. May 10, 1996); Wal-Mart Stores v. Board of Tax Assessors, 246 Ga. App. 161, 539 S.E.2d 869, 2000 Ga. App. LEXIS 1178 (2000). Authority to hire and fire a tax appraiser rested with the board of tax appraisers, not with the board of commissioners which previously approved the employment contract. Chambers v. Fulford, 268 Ga. 892, 495 S.E.2d 6, 1998 Ga. LEXIS 25 (1998). Payment of contract for employment not considered ratification of contract as a whole. — In a breach of contract action centering around a contract of employment with a county employer and the county’s board of tax assessors, because the employment contract was never approved by the county commission, and the county’s payment of a salary to the employee was not considered a ratification of the contract in the contract’s entirety, the employee possessed only an at-will employment. Thus, summary judgment was properly entered against the employee. Powell v. Wheeler County, 290 Ga. App. 508, 659 S.E.2d 893, 2008 Ga. App. LEXIS 362 (2008), cert. denied, No. S08C1300, 2008 Ga. LEXIS 686 (Ga. Sept. 8, 2008). OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Employees beyond minimum staff requirements. — Individuals employed in the Ben Hill County Tax Assessor’s office above and beyond the minimum staff requirements are employees of the Ben Hill County Board of Tax Assessors, not the board of county commissioners, and the Ben Hill County Board of Tax Assessors need not obtain the approval of the Ben Hill County Board of Commissioners before terminating the employment of those individuals. 1985 Op. Atty Gen. No. U85-25. Secretary of a county board of tax assessors can legally serve as a tax commissioner under former Code 1933, §§ 92-6903, 92-6907, and 92-6910 (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 48-5-290, 48-5-292, and 48-5-298). 1952-53 Ga. Op. Att'y Gen. 303. Contracts with nonresident corporations for services. — Nonresident corporations may enter into contracts with county boards of tax assessors to assist such boards in mapping, platting, cataloging, indexing, and appraising of taxable property, and to make reevaluations of taxable property, and to search out and appraise unreturned properties in such counties. 1957 Ga. Op. Att'y Gen. 27. Payment for survey and appraisal from taxes levied for school purposes. — County which contracts for the surveying and appraisal of taxable property may not pay any part of the cost of such services from the taxes levied for school purposes. 1952-53 Ga. Op. Att'y Gen. 341.