A miscalculation of Fayette County's 2004 tax digest will force three

city councils and the Board of Education to restate their millage rate increases

for fiscal year 2005.

There will be a slight delay in sending out tax bills, but property owners

in Fayette County will still be getting their notices far earlier than in

recent years.

Tax Commissioner George Wingo said Thursday that an outsourcing firm hired

to compile the total value of taxable property in Fayette County omitted

a step in that process, resulting in a $50 million shortfall.

"They failed to do it and we didn't detect it," said Wingo. "It

was not a red flag thing that popped up.

"The bottom line is everybody gets to reset their millage rates."

But that also means the city councils in Fayetteville, Peachtree City and

Tyrone, along with the school board, must hold three public hearings each

to gauge public input on the tax increase, as required by law.

Fayetteville, Tyrone and the school board OK'd their fiscal year 2005

budgets weeks ago. Peachtree City was scheduled to give final approval to

its new budget on Thursday night.

The $50 million adjustment is just a drop in the bucket of the overall $11.117

billion estimated value of Fayette County property. And the millage rate

is figured on just a 40 percent value of that, or $4.446 billion, Wingo said.

The only local "taxing authority" that will see a significant

adjustment in revenue based on the increase will be the school board, which

would have realized a windfall of about $1 million had the error not been

caught, Wingo said.

School spokeswoman Melinda Berry-Dreisbach said that means the Board of

Education might roll back its earlier approved millage rate of 19.19, giving

taxpayers a slight break.

A notable decrease in city taxes is less likely, since the municipal share

of the millage is valued at far less than the school system's share.

Neither the school board nor Fayetteville City Council has announced dates

for their hearings.

Tyrone hearings are scheduled for Sept. 9 at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and Sept.

16 at 6:45 p.m.

Peachtree City has set hearings for Sept. 14 at 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m.,

and Sept. 21 at 7 p.m.

Peachtree City Spokeswoman Betsy Tyler pointed out that the earlier approved

millage rate was the same from last year, but represents more actual revenue

based on the increase in property values. Those extra funds, equal to about

one-quarter of a mill, is enough to fund to the city's bond indebtedness

for the library expansion in FY 2005.

"If we weren't building the library, we'd be able to reduce

property taxes this year," she said.

Wingo said the added cost to re-advertise the millage rate changes would

be the only extra expense due to the error.

Pending conclusion of the hearings, his office is scheduled to take the

tax digest