Dalton school board members hold off on tax vote

Published 5:00 pm Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Members of the Dalton Board of Education agreed Monday to remove a vote on the school system’s 2022 property tax rate from their meeting agenda.

“My sense is we should not set a tentative (tax rate) until we get a certified tax digest,” said board Chairman Matt Evans.

Last week, the Whitfield County Board of Assessors unanimously voted to hold property values at their 2021 rates and to assess new construction at 2021 values.

Preliminary assessments released earlier this year showed the assessed value of residential properties rose an average of 22% in the county. Commercial and industrial assessments rose an average of 15%. The assessments are set by the county Board of Assessors. Members of that board are appointed by the county Board of Commissioners but the assessors are independent of the county and have to follow rules and regulations set by the state.

Theresa Perry, chief financial officer for Dalton Public Schools, said since then the school system has “gotten a couple of updates.”

“We got communication on Friday and communication today (Monday),” she said, adding she believes “we are pretty close to getting” a final digest.

School board members had previously announced a tentative tax rate of 7.95 mills, down from 8.095 mills in 2021, for their operating budget.

“But that was based on a digest that had 14% growth,” Perry said. “We know we are not going to be at 14% growth. There should be some growth related to new property, new development. But we don’t really know what that is.”

She said school system officials are anticipating 2% growth based on previous numbers.

“I’m guessing the 7.95 (mills) won’t make sense,” she said. “But we don’t want to increase the millage rate.”

She said once the school system receives a final digest it will not take her more than a day or so to calculate a proposed tax rate.

“You can advertise that (rate) and take final action at least one week out from the advertisement,” she said.

Perry said board members will hold two public meetings on the proposed tax rate and vote on the tax rate at the second meeting.

Data provided by Perry in previous meetings show Dalton Public Schools receives 35% of its revenues from local taxes, compared to 41% on average for Georgia school systems. Dalton Public Schools receives 52% of its revenues from the state, compared to the Georgia average of 49%. The rest of school revenues come from the federal government.

Dalton Public Schools will receive $1.1 million less in equalization funding from the state for fiscal year 2023 than it did for fiscal year 2022. Fiscal year 2023 began July 1.

Dalton Public Schools’ budget for fiscal year 2023 includes general fund expenditures of nearly $90 million. Dalton Public Schools spends 84% of its budget on salaries and benefits.

Dalton Public Schools is adding 21 positions, from paraprofessionals to teachers to administrators, according to the data provided in previous meetings.