Wednesday, January 14, 2004
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Wednesday, January 14, 2004 |
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Fayette tax notices: 90 percent paid; Most auto tag renewals won't get new 2004 plates By J. FRANK LYNCH One day last month, George Wingo signed his name to a check for approximately $40 million and then casually walked a block down Stonewall Avenue to hand-deliver it to the lucky recipient. It was all in a day’s work for Wingo, Fayette County’s tax commissioner, and the $40 million was a welcome arrival for James Stephens, finance director for the county Board of Education. That $40 million partial pay-out to the school district will be the single largest transaction for Wingo and his department this year as they go about their business: Collect property and ad valorem taxes and distribute the revenue to local governments due a slice of the pie. And at more than $110 million, it’s a big pie. According to information compiled by the state Department of Education, property-rich Fayette County has the 13th-highest net worth among Georgia’s 159 counties, which puts it ahead of Columbus-Muscogee, Hall, Dougherty, Houston and Athens-Clarke, all with more people than Fayette in 2000. Not surprisingly, the county’s largest personal property tax bill went to boxing champ Evander Holyfield, charged $137,111.36 on his North Fayette estate. Wingo said Holyfield, or at least his CPA, paid in full well before the Dec. 31 deadline. The original Dec. 15 cutoff for paying taxes was relaxed to the end of the year, and by the time December’s take is tallied, Wingo estimates more than 90 percent of all property owners will have paid up. “We do better than most counties, like Fulton and DeKalb,” said Wingo. By March, when stiff penalties kick in for still-delinquent taxpayers, “We’ll probably be at 95 to 96 percent.” The $40 million check to the school board represents just over half of the funds due the school system this year. Wingo will collect and deliver $72 million in school taxes alone by the end of the fiscal year come June 30. “We actually pay them once a week,” Wingo explained, adding that the transactions are done the old fashioned way, on paper, and not electronically as might be expected. “The schools get most of their money the first 60 days of collections, and then we cut a check weekly for whatever they are still due after that.” The school district is fortunate. County government and the cities of Peachtree City, Tyrone and Fayetteville have to wait month-to-month to get their share, based on individual millage rates. “But if they need some money, we’ll cut them a check if we have to,” said Wingo. “We deliver (tax revenue) to whoever it belongs to however they need it.” Peachtree City residents are still required to register their golf carts at City Hall, but since the state raised the limit on the value of taxable property to $7,500, few if any of them get “taxed.” “I can’t imagine any golf cart worth $7,500,” said Wingo. The same rule applies to automobiles. Fayette County is home to 120,000 registered vehicles, 20,000 more cars and trucks than people, according to estimates. “Some families have three or four cars in the garage,” Wingo pointed out, adding that the county total also includes about 12,000 licensed boat trailers, campers, tows, fittings and the like. At an estimated $10 million, the revenue generated from the sale of auto registrations hardly seems worth it, especially this year. “We’ll do 120,000 transactions this year, and of those, 75,000 are renewals.” Georgia released a new design for its auto plates in 2004, as it does every seven years. But state budget cuts forced Gov. Sonny Perdue to back off from a full-fledged roll-out this year. “If the transaction is for a newly acquired vehicle, you’ll get a new plate,” Wingo said. “If just renewing, you’ll get your registration sticker and keep your old tag, unless you have a speciality plate, and you’ll get a new one of those.” It may be just as well. The design of the 2004 Georgia license plates, which includes the web address “www.georgia.com” and was chosen by Perdue’s predecessor Roy Barnes, is not winning a lot of praise. “I’m not real fond of it,” Wingo said.
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