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School board, county
follow PTC lead in boosting property taxes
Fayette Co. Commission
By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com
Any way you slice it, Fayette County taxes are going up.
County commissioners Monday unanimously approved property tax rate increases
of about 20 to 25 percent, depending upon where you live. And, because
31,791 parcels were reevaluated for tax purposes this year, most residents'
tax bills will increase by even more than that.
The tax rate for year 2000 was tentatively set Monday at 7.556 mills for
residents of local cities, and 6.562 mills for residents of unincorporated
areas, to fund maintenance and operation of county facilities and services.
Last year's rates were 6.31 and 5.21 respectively.
In addition, residents of Tyrone, Brooks, Woolsey and unincorporated Fayette
will pay 3.778 mills for fire services. But the fire tax rate is going
down 5.5 percent. The 1999 rate was four mills.
A mill is one dollar per thousand dollars of a home's assessed value.
Assessed value is 40 percent of fair market value, minus exemptions.
The tax rates are not final until commissioners conduct a series of public
hearings and formally adopt them. Those hearings are scheduled this month
and next (see related story).
Fair market value for all county properties rose by 718.5 million this
year, to just over $7 billion. The county-wide reassessment of property
values accounted for $402.9 million of the increase. The rest was due
to new construction and other changes to properties.
But the figure that county budgeters use in calculating how high the tax
rate needs to be in order to fund the budget is 40 percent of the total,
minus exemptions, or $2.95 billion, up about $336.3 million from last
year.
The higher property values and new construction will increase the county's
revenue from its millage rate by more than $2 million, leaving many residents
wondering why a tax rate increase was also necessary.
Plans to build a new county jail and courthouse complex are the culprit.
"If not for the jail, taxes would've been one tenth of a mill less
than last year," said Harold Bost, County Commission chairman. Residents
in both unincorporated and incorporated areas would be paying 1.448 mills
less than they will be, he said.
And even though residents' tax bills would have been higher with the property
reassessments, Bost said the increase would have kept Fayette's taxes
low enough that public hearings would not have been required.
A new state law requires that counties and cities have public hearings
and declare a tax increase, even if the actual tax rate goes down, unless
they roll back their tax rates enough to account for the reassessment
"windfall." But only counties whose taxes are above 5.985 mills
must adhere to that law.
Bost insisted Fayette's government is not collecting any windfall. "If
not for reassessment," he said, "the millage rate would have
been higher." The county budget already was in place when property
reassessments were conducted, he said.
"All we did was took the dollars that had been budgeted and used
the new tax base after reassessments to calculate the tax rate,"
he added.
He said the tax picture should be better next year if the county can get
its proposed impact fees approved to help pay for the new county jail.
"If we had the jail impact fees in place, we would have reduced [taxes]
by .346 mills," Bost said. "That's why I've been pushing for
it so hard."
Proposals for the impact fees have been a bone of contention between the
county and its cities. Commissioners voted to impose the fees contingent
upon all local cities agreeing to collect their share of fees.
But concerns over how the fees are calculated for different types and
sizes of businesses have slowed the process. County officials hope to
have the fees in place by January, and hope to reduce tax rates accordingly
next year.
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