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Schools benefit from tax error

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@thecitizennews.com

The Fayette County Board of Education may be able to restore about a quarter million dollars in cuts to its 2004-05 budget and still give taxpayers a slight break, thanks to an error in calculating the county’s tax digest.

Tax Commissioner George Wingo said last week that an outsourcing firm hired to compile the total value of taxable property in Fayette County omitted a step in that process, resulting in a $50 million underestimate of the county’s wealth.

“They failed to do it and we didn’t detect it,” said Wingo. “It was not a red flag thing that popped up. The bottom line is everybody gets to reset their millage rates.”

In addition to the school board, that includes the city councils of Fayetteville, Peachtree City and Tyrone. By law, each must hold three public hearings to allow the public to comment on the adjustments, which qualify as slight tax increases.

The county commission based its budget for the coming year on the increased valuation of property and rolled back its share of the millage to compensate, so it isn’t affected by the change.

Superintendent John DeCotis confirmed that hearings had been scheduled at noon and 7 p.m. on Sept. 16 and at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 23.

When the school board approved its current budget in June, it did so with the understanding that about $250,000 in cuts would still have to be made.

Wingo estimated that growing the tax digest by just $50 million equals about $1 million more in revenue for the school board, which set its operations millage rate at 19.19 mills in June. That means the owner of $200,000 home would pay about $19.12 more in school taxes this year, DeCotis said.

“We’re hoping we can restore that $250,000 and then cut our millage a little bit more,” said DeCotis. “If we can save the taxpayers some money and restore some cut things, that’s a good thing.”

The windfall is far less for the cities affected.

The Peachtree City Council went ahead and approved its 2004—05 fiscal year budget in a meeting last week, even though it has also rescheduled three public hearings on the millage.

City Manager Bernard McMullen said the change will mean about $75,000 more in revenue for the city, which will go into the general fund balance. That’s just a drop in the bucket for the city’s $26.55 million budget.

City Councilman Steve Rapson poked fun at the council’s plight last week, noting that the process of approving a budget this year went smoothly and was completed earlier than in years past.

“I appreciate getting the millage hearings done early this year so we can do them all over again,” he quipped.

Peachtree City’s hearings are set for Sept. 14 at 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Sept. 21 at 7 p.m.

Tyrone has hearings scheduled for Sept. 9 at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. and Sept. 16 at 6:45 p.m.

Fayetteville’s hearing dates were unavailable at press time.

Wingo said nailing down the exact value of taxable property in Fayette County is never an exact science, especially since the county ranks as one of the wealthiest in the state.

The overall estimated value of property in Fayette County this year is $11.117 billion, an increase of several hundred million over last year.

The millage rate is figured on just a 40 percent value of that, however, at $4.446 billion, Wingo said.