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November 3, 2009

Whitfield tax bills to go out starting Monday

Submitted by Whitfield County government

Whitfield County officials have spent the past few months warning residents that the state homestead tax relief grant will not be available this year, due to the tough economic conditions across Georgia.

That means when residents open their property tax bills that will go out starting Monday, Nov. 9 (due by Jan. 9, 2010), they may see an increase in their taxes of between $40 and $170, according to the district they reside in.

“It is painful for me to bear this news to you during an already suffering economy coupled with the fact that I realize how badly Whitfield County has been hit already with the loss of so many jobs,” Whitfield County Tax Commissioner Danny Sane said.

“Please keep in mind the homestead tax exemption is not going away completely,” he said. “However, what the taxpayer is losing is the extra state grant that helped offset inflation increases during the last several years.”

Sane said it is also very important for taxpayers to realize that no local elected official in this county could do anything to stop the elimination of the state exemption this year.

“Declining state revenues during the current recession means there is no money for the state to give the tax relief to homeowners,” Sane said. “This will mean a property tax increase on the 2009 tax bills for many Georgia homeowners.”

None of that increase will be going to the county. Instead it will help the state with its budget crunch. Even if the county tried to give this money back to local taxpayers through a rollback, by law it cannot apply a different millage rate to homeowners and businesses. That means even with a rollback of the same amount as the state exemption, some of this reduction would have gone to businesses and homeowners would still have seen their tax bills increase. The current economic conditions did not make a rollback feasible at this time.

The exemption grant appropriated by the General Assembly and the governor for the last several years to counties, cities and schools had given tax relief to homeowners in the form of a credit on their tax bill.

According to legislation passed this year (House Bill 143), the grant will only be made available in the future if state revenues grow at least 3 percent plus the rate of inflation.

“It is my hope to encourage you to prepare for this increase in your tax bill now before the due date of Jan. 9, 2010,” Sane said.

The Whitfield County Board of Commissioners passed the 2009 millage rate for the county with no increase on Oct. 26 and will consider furloughs of county employees that would save several hundred thousand dollars next year if the economy does not improve and sales tax collections rise.

During 2009, the commissioners used leftover SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax) funds that by law must be used for tax relief in order to keep from raising the millage rate and/or cutting county services. They will use those leftover funds again during 2010.

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