The Fayette County Commission retreat held April 5 provided a look at what is anticipated to be a 2019 net tax digest totaling $6.3 billion, up from $5.9 billion in 2018.
Data supplied by county finance staff showed that property values continue to rise in the county. With those increases, the countywide tax digest is expected to see a new high.
Based on the categories of real, personal and motor vehicle properties, the tax digest represents the total value of a city or county.
In the case of Fayette County, and after exemptions, the net maintenance and operation tax digest for 2019 is anticipated to total $6,327,818,828, county finance staff said.
Putting those figures in perspective, finance staff reviewed the net tax digest numbers through the decade.
It was in 2011 that the net digest totaled $4.789 billion. Yet as the effects of the Great Recession took hold, the county was hit hard by falling property values.
The net digest in 2012 shrunk to $4.3 billion, followed by a value of $4.32 billion in 2013 and $4.396 billion in 2014.
A slow but steady turn around came in 2015, with the net digest totaling $4.76 billion, followed by $5.03 billion in 2016, $5.62 billion in 2017 and $5.9 billion in 2018.
In terms of the county maintenance and operation millage rate, and accompanying rollbacks over the years, a survey of the decade provided by staff showed a low of 4.392 mills in 2018 and a high of 5.714 mills in 2014.
Residents across the county, with the exception of Peachtree City and Fayetteville, also pay a fire district millage that totaled 3.07 mills for the past several years. Peachtree City and Fayetteville operate their own fire departments.
Notifications of property tax bills for 2019 will be sent out in the coming months.
