As expected, the Fayette County Board of Commissioners voted Thursday night to roll back the general fund tax rate from 5.714 mills to 5.602 mills to keep property owners’ tax bills the same as last year after the first positive property assessment in seven years.
The 1.96-percent reduction in millage was made possible by an increase in property values, according to Mary Parrott, the county’s chief financial officer.
The 2014 tax digest was impacted significantly by the new state law phasing out the annual motor vehicle ad valorem tax. Since the new title ad valorem tax became effective in March of last year, any vehicle purchase or transferred paying that tax is no longer subject to the annual ad valorem tax. That means a reduction of nearly $58 million countywide, Parrott reported.
But after negative assessments for 2008-2013, this year saw a 2.2-percent increase in total assessments to the tune of $86.2 million. All of the changes throughout the tax digest add up to an increase of $74,731,793 or 1.7 percent, which will be offset by the rollback.
To further illustrate the effects of the economic slowdown in recent years, Parrott presented a chart that showed how the total taxable digest has dropped $1 billion since its peak of $5.46 billion in 2009. After hitting a low of $4.301 billion in 2012 (falling $488 million in a single year), it has increased slightly the last two years to its current total of $4.397 billion.
The general fund millage is the only rate seeing a change this year. Millage rates for fire services, emergency medical services and E911 services remain at 2013 levels.
Commission Chairman Steve Brown did not hesitate to praise everyone involved in managing the county’s finances, saying that the strides made over the past few years are nothing short of remarkable. Brown and Allen McCarty were elected to the board in 2010.
“When we started the picture was not nearly as rosy as today. It has been amazing,” said Brown. “The fact that we’ve got digest growth is a positive, but we didn’t get to where we are with minimal digest growth. We did it because we had a disciplined approach to government finance. All of you have done a magnificent job going through the budget, looking at where we could make cuts and economize – looking at every possible way to save money.”
Brown added that to have a AAA bond rating once again is something he could not have imagined four years ago.
“That would have seemed impossible,” he said. “On top of that, we do a millage rollback and we are able to give incentive pay increases to our staff. In the period of time that I have been here, that is phenomenal.”
McCarty echoed those sentiments.
“Steve and I ran on the premise of balancing the budget,” he said. “We could not have done this without you.”
Other commissioners were also quick to praise the county staff. David Barlow mentioned county administrator Steve Rapson, saying, “We now have true leadership from the top down.”
Rapson returned the favor, saying, “The reason we are here today is because of the tough decisions that this board has made.”
Brown also recognized the court officials, sheriff and various constitutional officers who have worked with the county the past few years regarding their respective budgets.
The millage resolution was approved unanimously.
— By Monroe Roark
sports@TheCitizen.com
