MoCo Rolls Back Taxes
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Montgomery County citizens will not see an increase on their property taxes this year, as both the Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education have accepted the rollback millage rate.
On Thursday, October 16, the Montgomery County Board of Education accepted the rollback rate of 14.7460 mills, which will bring a 0.78% tax decrease, as the Board will receive $23,390 less in tax revenue.
The amount of taxable value within the county decreased this year, totaling $1,530,729 less than last year for the Board of Education. continued from page
These changes come from various decreases, such as a $1,196,428 decrease in the taxable value of real and personal property; a $25,580 decrease in the taxable value of motor vehicles; a $58,001 decrease in the taxable value of mobile homes; and a $27,911 decrease in the taxable value of timber. Overall, with the new millage rate, the Board will levy $2,992,617 total.
The Board of Education also issued a comment on the millage rate, as they remarked, “Our board was pleased to see the rollback rate reflect a slight decrease in the millage rate. This slight decrease is a result of a small amount of reassessed property. It is our hope as more reassessments are complete, that we get the opportunity to continue to decrease the millage rate, especially now that school systems, for the first time ever, are allowed to have a millage rate below 14 mills and not lose additional, vital state education funds. Reassessments will also correct the extremely low sales ratio that caused the school system to lose $945,548 this school year and will cause the school system to lose an additional 1.3 million in state education funds next school year. The state includes each county's sales ratio as part of the state funding formula that determines each school system's allotment of state funds to run the school system. If our sales ratio is corrected, these are dollars that we can collect from the state rather than local property taxes. We believe in every single student continued from page
in Montgomery County Schools and will continue to be good stewards of the public's money, investing it wisely into each and every student.”
The Board of Education passed the millage rate unanimously during their meeting on Thursday, October 16. This millage rate was also accepted by the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners during their special called meeting on Friday, October 17, with a 3-1 vote, as Commissioner Amie Vassey opposed this acceptance.
During the special called meeting, the commissioners also approved the acceptance of the rollback rate for county property taxes.
Last month, the Board of Commissioners proposed to accept the rollback millage rate of 14.8530 mills, which will total a $36,040 (1.11%) decrease in revenue from property taxes due to some recent reassessments. The amount of taxable values in the county has decreased by $2,367,552, as real and personal property taxable value have decreased by $1,011,811; motor vehicle taxable value have decreased by $25,660; mobile homes taxable value have decreased by $57,808; and timber taxable value has decreased by $27,911. The millage rate will levy $3,213,583 total.
The commissioners issued a comment on the intention to accept the rollback rate, stating, “Our county manager has reviewed county budgets with each department – including our Constitutional Officers’ budgets – and through the efforts of our departments to maintain or decrease their budget where possible, we were able to find savings and pass it along to our citizens. This, along with an increase in our digest from new construction and a small amount of reassessed property, afforded the Board of Commissioners the opportunity this year to help our citizens as we mark one year out from Hurricane Helene. We believe this trend can continue when reassessments get back on schedule this upcoming year for the benefit of all.”
On Friday, October 17, the commissioners met for a special called meeting to vote on the proposed millage rate. Prior to voting, Commissioner Amie Vassey addressed her fellow commissioners. “The proposed millage rate, which is to honor the rollback rate, does allow us to fund the proposed budget. There are some questions, apparently, from citizens and also myself and some concerns about approving a millage rate prior to actually adopting a budget, but it is my understanding from the county manager that it is done that way in some counties so there is nothing out of compliance with that. Research should be able to support that,” she began.
Vassey continued, “My specific comment that I want to make or discussion that I’d like to have is while I’m glad and pleased that our county plans to honor the rollback rate, I also feel like we have a missed opportunity here to potentially lower the millage rate and help our citizens out a little bit. I would challenge each of the commissioners in this room today to make it a goal of ours over the next 12 months to find ways to cut our budget significantly, and let’s aim to lower the millage rate next year. Let’s aim to – I would say – lower it by 0.5. I think that would be a healthy and attainable goal, and that’s what I hope to achieve over the next year as commissioner and I hope that you guys will join me in those efforts.”
After listening to these comments, Commissioner Leland Adams made a motion to accept the millage rate, which Commissioner Jimmy “Pedro” Sharpe seconded. The millage rate was accepted on a unanimous vote.
These rates will now be used to levy the county’s property taxes, as citizens should expect to receive their tax bills in the coming weeks.
