It has been a decade since Tyrone raised the millage rate on property taxes. While keeping the same rate again this year, public hearings are needed since more revenue will be generated because property values have increased.
“We are pleased to announce that we will once again adopt the same millage rate of 2.889 mills despite a significant increase in capital improvements for FY 2015. The good news is that our collective property values have increased. The bad news is that by maintaining our millage rate, the letter of the law defines this as a tax increase of 1.8 percent,” Mayor Eric Dial said.
The public hearings will be held at Town Hall on Aug. 14 at 9 .am. and 6 p.m. and on Aug. 21 at 6 p.m.
Town Manager Kyle Hood said the mayor and council on July 30 announced their intention to increase the collection of property taxes in 2014, as compared to prior year revenues, due to the need for a millage rate above the state-defined roll-back millage rate as calculated after the tax digest is prepared by the Fayette County Tax Assessors Office.
“During budget preparation, the town committed to maintaining its maintenance and operations millage rate at the 2.889 mills that it had been for the better part of the past decade. However, for the first time in several years, the assessed value of the new construction and existing real and personal properties within the town limits has increased and a roll-back millage was calculated at 2.838 mills,” said Hood.
Hood said Georgia law requires that a government rollback the millage rate to a number of mills that will produce same number of dollars in revenue from the year before, and despite the decreasing valuation of the properties in Tyrone over the past five to six years, the mayor and Town Council relied on the same millage rate, which caused for consecutive years in decreasing tax revenue.
The proposed increase in property tax revenue, year over year, amounts to $14,229 or 1.8 percent. The total number of dollars anticipated to be collected in property tax for 2014 is $920,468, said Hood.
