Whitfield residents get chance to ask questions about proposed tax hike

Published 11:07 pm Saturday, August 1, 2015

Local government meetings tend to be quiet affairs, attended by very few people.

But sometimes those meetings deal with an issue that people feel strongly about, and attendance can be pretty healthy.

Whitfield County Board of Commissioners Chairman Mike Babb says he expects Monday’s public hearing on the county’s 2015 property tax rate will be one of those that brings people out. The hearing is at noon in Administrative Building No. 2, 214 W. King St.

“I’ve already gotten some calls,” he said.

 Commissioners are advertising a 2015 property tax rate of 7.061 mills, up 1 mill from 2014. If they adopt that rate, the tax on a home with a fair market value of $150,000 would increase by $40.64. The tax on a property with a fair market value of $150,000 that does not have a homestead exemption would increase $60.96.

The tax increase is projected to bring in an additional $2.2 million.

That tax rate is only for the county’s maintenance and operations expenses. It does not include the property tax for the school system, which sets its own rate.

When commissioners approved the county’s $40.2 million 2015 budget last year, they warned it would require a 1-mill tax increase.

“When we first did our budget last year, it had a deficit of more than $6 million,” said Commissioner Lynn Laughter. “We cut that to about $4 million by cutting paving and by agreeing not to make a pension payment this year.”

About half that deficit will be funded from the county’s fund balance. The rest is planned to be covered by the proposed tax increase.

Babb said the meeting will give board members a chance to explain their budget choices.

“We’ll start with a presentation on what we are facing and how we got at this point,” he said. “If you don’t deal with it every day, you don’t realize that $3 million a year (in local option sales tax or LOST funds) now go to the city treasury that used to go to the county treasury.”

In 2012, state law required commissioners and the Dalton City Council to renegotiate the agreement that determines how LOST dollars are divvied up. The county’s share fell from 83.24 percent to 63.75 percent this year.

After the presentation, commissioners will open the hearing up to questions and comments from the audience.

Do they expect to hear any suggestions that could help them reduce the red ink without a tax increase?

“I want to hear what people have to say,” said Commissioner Roger Crossen. “But the time for making those sort of proposals was last year, when the budget was being put together. I wasn’t on the council then. But I believe that the public did have an opportunity to provide some ideas then. And this is the budget the commissioners came up with.”

According to data provided by commissioners, the proposed 1-mill tax increase would move the county from the 20th lowest property tax rate among Georgia counties to the 34th lowest.

The board will hold another public hearing on the proposed tax rate on Monday, Aug. 10, at noon in Administration Building No. 2. The board is expected to vote on the rate during a 6 p.m. meeting that night at the same location.