Staff says shave a half mill off current city tax rate
The Peachtree City Council on Aug. 3 adopted the Fiscal Year 2018 budget totaling $34.466 million. But the real news came with a staff recommendation that the council consider adopting a millage rate that amounts to a full rollback.
Finance Director Paul Salvatore recommended that the council on Aug. 17 consider rolling back the maintenance and operation budget from 6.756 mills to 6.232 mills, a reduction of .524 mills. The bond millage rate would be reduced by .036 mills, from .309 to .072 mills.
Above, Peachtree City Finance Director Paul Salvatore. File photo.
In all, the total millage would decrease from 7.065 mills to 6.505 mills, Salvatore said.
Salvatore during the presentation explained the two kinds of tax digest growth, that portion coming from reassessments and the other coming from new growth.
“The term rollback applies only to changes in current assessed value,” he said. “New added growth is anything else that causes an increase in the net taxable digest, such as the value of any new construction. Revenue increases from new added growth are not required to be rolled back because the new growth translates into new expenses for the city.”
Providing a breakdown of the rationale for recommending a full rollback, Salvatore said staff initially estimated a 7 percent growth in the tax digest from reassessments. The budget was based on a 3 percent of the digest growth and included a .25-mill rollback from the other 4 percent.
In actuality, said Salvatore, the net digest grew by 12.47 percent, including 3.75 percent from new growth, adding that the new growth will support the 3 percent increase needed for the budget.
“This is all good news,” said Councilman Phil Prebor.
Meantime, the budget was unanimously adopted with no discussion.
Up for consideration on Aug. 17, approving the recommended rollback rate would negate the need for public hearings on the millage, said Salvatore.
Salvatore said the recommended millage would result in no changes to the FY 2018 budget. He added that, given that the high property assessment increases are expected to generate more appeals, the city might not realize the $411,000 cash reserve increase projected in the FY 2018 budget.
