Whitfield, Dalton taxpayers get a break

Published 11:02 pm Saturday, October 4, 2014

Dalton and Whitfield County property owners will get a little bit of good news this week.

Both the Dalton City Council and the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners are scheduled to set their 2014 tax rates, and neither body plans to raise taxes.

In fact, the City Council plans to cut its property tax rate for the seventh straight year.

When the council meets Monday at 6 p.m. at City Hall, it is scheduled to set its property tax rate at 2.537 mills, down from 2.616 mills in 2013 and from 3.66 mills in 2007.

The Board of Commissioners will meet Tuesday at noon at Administrative Building No. 2, 214 W. King St. They are scheduled to hold their property tax rate steady for the second straight year at 6.061 mills. Commissioners last raised their tax rate in 2012, when they increase it 1 mill from 5.061 mills.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that any individual taxpayer’s bill won’t go up. If the assessed value of a property rose, that could lead to increased taxes even if the rates don’t go up.

Still, we thank both the council members and the commissioners for finding ways to keep spending in check and not raise taxes as so many governments around us have done.

But we are concerned that commissioners say they may not be able to avoid a tax increase next year. We hope they will continue to find ways to keep spending under control. Two new commissioners — Roger Crossen and Barry Robbins — will join the board next year. Bringing new perspectives, perhaps they can help find ways to avoid raising taxes. They’ll have several months to do that.

And for now, we are thankful that the news on taxes is good.