larger than expected increase in the value of

Fayette County property due to reassessments by

the county assessor's office will result in a

windfall that can be spent by local governments

or given back to the taxpayers through a rate

reduction.

But

most local officials aren't saying yet which

direction the governments are likely to jump.

Tax

rates may be rolled back to adjust for any

windfall, officials say, and in any jurisdiction

where officials decide to increase the budget to

accommodate the windfall, state law requires that

public hearings be conducted.

Preliminary

figures suggest the value of all properties in

Fayette will increase by a little over $784

million this year, said Ellen Mills, chief tax

assessor. More than half - about $405

million - of that increase is due to

county-wide reappraisals of property value to

reflect fair market value, as required by the

state, Mills said. The remainder is from new

construction.

Total

effect of the reappraisals on taxes levied

county-wide will be about $162,000 for each mill

of property tax. A mill is one dollar of tax for

each $1,000 of a property's assessessed value.

Assessed value is 40 percent of fair market

value.

Each

city government will deal only with the portion

of taxable property within its borders, so the

windfall will be less. And final numbers won't be

available until next month, after residents who

disagree with the assessors' reevaluation of

their properties have had a chance to appeal.

Emory

McHugh, county finance director, said he had

estimated during budget preparation that

reassessment would account for only about 15

percent of the growth in property values, instead

of more than 50 percent as preliminary figures

indicate.

But

the county's $56.6 million budget is already in

place, and McHugh said his task will be to

recommend a tax rate that will raise the expected

amount of money, and no more, once the tax digest

is approved.

"All

I do then is drop the millage down to reflect

that," he said.

The

county budget anticipates a tax increase of about

1.5 mills to pay debt service on construction of

a new county jail and courthouse complex, but

with the reassessments, McHugh said, the increase

may be somewhat less.

Likewise,

Fayetteville's budget is set for the 2001 fiscal

year, and the city's millage will roll back to

compensate for any increase from either

reassessment or growth in the tax digest,

according to City Manager Joe Morton.

"We're

required to roll back on reassessment, or we'd

have to advertise it as a tax increase," he

said.

Peachtree

City spokesman Betsy Tyler said officials in her

town don't want to say anything about possible

tax rates until the final figures come out.

Tyrone

Town Administrator Barry Amos and Board of

Education finance director Jim Stephens are

equally cautious.

"It

would be premature to decide what they're going

to do now without any numbers," said Amos.

"If the numbers seem to indicate it, we may

do a millage rollback."

"It'll

be mid-September before we know what we'll

do," said Stephens.

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