June 19, 2007
Will
your property taxes increase this year?
Yes, if there is no rollback or decrease of the millage
rate!
Believe
it or not, the County budget has gone from $6million in
2006 to over $9million in 2007, with another
proposed increase for 2008. Asking how the budget could
increase so dramatically produces no answers. TWG still
suspects it has something to do with the County Manager
and CFO not understanding that taxes collected in December
of one year fund the budget for the next year. In
some miraculous way, "2006 actual figures" produced
a "surplus" of $2.9 million. Actual
2006 figures, as shown on the Budget worksheet, had Revenues
of $8,622,400 and Expenses of $5,703,795. The following
chart shows the "Budget" figures:
| |
Budget** |
Increase |
%
Increase |
| 2006 Budget |
6,240,963 |
|
|
| |
|
2,915,440 |
46.71% |
| 2007 Budget |
9,156,403 |
|
|
| |
|
128,858 |
1.41% |
| Proposed
2008 Budget |
9,285,261 |
|
|
| **Per "public
copy of budget" |
|
|
|
To
view the budget you can go to the following link--since
TWG questioned the use of the county website, a few things
have been added—
www.jaspercountyga.org
Go to the Finance link and click on
2008 Budget
Everyone
that owns property is aware that their values are increasing.
As the values increase, the tax digest increases. The tax
digest determines the taxable value of properties in the
County. As shown in the following chart, values
of real property increased from 2006 to 2007 by $174 million.
The chart shows that "Exemptions",
such as conservation, homestead exemption, non-taxable property
such as schools and churches, cut the FMV of the property
in half.
The taxable value of property in Jasper County
increased by $35 million or 8.66% from 2006 to 2007.
Jasper
County Tax Digest |
|
2006 |
2007 |
Increase |
%
Increase |
FMV
Real Property |
1,361,238,157 |
1,535,319,612 |
174,081,455 |
12.79% |
FMV
Other--timber, vehicles, etc. |
103,851,048 |
108,433,315 |
4,582,268 |
4.41%
|
Less
Exemptions—Homestead conservation, etc. |
|
|
|
|
(442,185,978) |
(532,305,795) |
(90,119,818) |
8.54%
|
FMV
of Property |
1,022,903,227 |
1,111,447,132 |
88,543,905 |
8.66%
|
|
|
|
|
|
40%
of FMV= Taxable Value |
409,161,291 |
444,578,853 |
35,417,562 |
8.66%
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
Tax Digest Increase from 2006 to 2007 |
|
35,417,562 |
8.66% |
|
|
|
|
|
Increasing
values make it easy for the Commissioners, School Board,
and City Council to say they are not increasing the millage
rate. They don't have to increase the millage rate
to bring in more tax money if values have increased. If
there is no decrease in the millage rate this year, the
property owners will cough up another million dollars in
taxes.
| Taxable
Digest Increase |
35,417,562 |
| Millage
rate from 2006 |
28.60 |
| |
|
Additional
Taxes Collected with Digest Increase
if no decrease in millage rate in 2007
|
$1,012,942 |
| |
|
WHERE
DO YOUR TAXES GO?
Remember--Taxable Digest x
mils = Taxes billed
| |
|
2006
Digest
tax collected |
Increased
tax
collected** |
2007
Digest
tax collected
|
%
of taxes
received |
| |
Mils |
| State |
0.25 |
102,290 |
8,854 |
111,145 |
0.87% |
| County |
12.59 |
5,151,341 |
445,907 |
5,597,248 |
44.02% |
| Schools |
14.76 |
6,039,221 |
522,763 |
6,561,984 |
51.61% |
| School
Bond |
1.00 |
409,161 |
35,418 |
444,579 |
3.50%
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| TOTALS |
28.60 |
11,702,013 |
1,012,942 |
12,714,955 |
100.00% |
| **Total
Additional taxes collected without Rollback of Millage |
This
is a 8.656% tax increase over 2006
The taxpayers need and deserve a rollback of the millage
rate.
As the above chart shows, the
Commissioners are not responsible for the majority of your
taxes; the School Board is. Rarely does
the public complain or even attend the budget hearings of
the School Board; yet they determine over
55% of the property tax bill. During the
quest the SPLOST for the new High School, Jay Brinson said
that there would be an additional
$1 million needed to staff, supply, and "run"
the new school. TWG predicts the School
Board will again raise their part of the millage even though
increased values will provide the Schools with more than
$550,000 in additional income.
___________________________________________________________
The county budget
is increasing 1.41% based on the "best" figures
we can obtain. TWG continues to question the budget from
2006 to 2007 as it shows an increase of 47%. TWG also questions
the continued increases in 2008 and continue to wonder where
is the $2.9 million surplus. Each time the County hires
a new County Manager and/or CFO, the budget is done differently,
making it extremely hard to compare. The digest is always
done the same, so we can compare the values of the property
from year to year and the increases. The millage
rate is what determines your property tax bill; not the
increase in the value.
| Example:
|
|
|
| 2006 Value |
100,000
x 40% x 28.60 mils = tax |
1,144 |
| 2007 Value |
150,000
x 40% x 28.60 mils = tax |
1,716 |
| 2007
Value with lower millage rate to 26.30 mils = tax |
1,578 |
When
we find out the increases in the School budget and
City budget, we will compare those figures and
let you know the increases. Those budgets have already been
set and approved.
TWG
===========================================================
Mission
Statement:
** To keep the taxpayers of Jasper County, Georgia informed
as to where and how
their tax dollars are being spent.
** To keep the taxpayers abreast of local policies and
laws being
discussed and enacted.
** We advocate more open government, less government spending,
and lower property taxes.
|
