Property tax owners will get a break from the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. A tax break, to be exact.

At its meeting Wednesday afternoon, the commission rolled back its millage rate to counteract potential property tax increases due to reassessed properties. It is the only local government agency in the county to reduce taxes to counteract the property reassessments.

The millage rate will drop both for residents who live in the unincorporated county and for residents who also live in one of Fayette’s cities or towns, said Assistant Finance Director Mary Holland.

The millage rate for incorporated residents will decrease by 0.391 mills; the millage rate for unincorporated residents will decrease by 0.303 mills and the fire tax will decrease by 0.0185 mills.

For unincorporated homes varying in property value from $150,000 to $300,000, the savings range from $123.42 to $280.98. For incorporated homes in the same value range, the savings range from $89.21 to $203.09 per year.

The county has reduced the millage rate for unincorporated parcels by 26 percent since 2001; a similar result has been achieved with the county’s fire tax rate, which has shrunk by 23 percent over the same time frame.

County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn lauded the work of Holland and the finance department in producing the budget this year. The former chief finance director, Mark Pullium, left recently after resigning to take a job with the University of Montana.

[In a letter to the editor on Page A4, a reader disputes that true rollbacks have occurred for either city or county taxpayers.]