‘We had no clue’: Atlanta church in danger of being foreclosed on over $67,000 in unpaid taxes and fees they didn’t know they owed — here’s what happened

“We had no clue that we were even getting notifications,” Pastor Jahmaul Williams told WSB-TV. “We had been considered tax exempt.”

More than 45 years ago, Williams’ grandmother had donated her northwest Atlanta house to become the church. But Williams says the church didn’t even realize tax bills were coming in since they were being mailed to a former pastor — who died in 1996.

Administrators became aware they owed back taxes when a groundskeeper noticed a piece of paper tucked under the doormat at the church’s front entrance. As it turns out, Fulton County had sold the tax debt to collection agency Investa Services, which is now pushing to foreclose in August unless the church pays $67,000 in tax debt, interest and fees.

“We have been notified that they are going to try to sell our property on the courthouse steps,” Williams said.

What happened

A county official reportedly told state Sen. Donzella James they revoked the church’s property tax exemption because its title included a person’s name (even though it always has).

The owner is recorded as “Johnson Carrie Admr Church,” named after the church’s first pastor, Carrie Johnson, who died in 1989.

“I cannot understand how a church that is active and functioning in the community could be changed from nonprofit to profit,” James told WSB-TV.

“It’s a lot of people dropping balls here. And now we need to stop this and give them an opportunity to satisfy, rather than have their property sold on the courthouse steps.”

What's going to happen next?

The Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta says “all property owned by and operated exclusively as a church or other religious association” is exempt from property taxes.