Governments propose millage rates

by Wayne Hardy and Stephanie Hill

With new budgets approved, local governments will soon set their millage rates that are used in calculating property taxes.

The White County Board of Education and cities of Cleveland and Helen are advertising rollbacks of their millage rates. The White County Board of Commissioners is proposing to keep its millage rate at 10.75 mills, meaning county tax bills will only rise for those whose property values have increased.

Though the proposed millage rate is unchanged from the past three years, state law requires it be advertised as a tax increase because it is higher than the rollback millage rate, which is calculated to incorporate increases in property reassessments while generating the same amount of tax revenue as the previous year.

The  county’s 10.75 millage rate is .547 mills over the rollback rate of 10.203 mills, a 5.36% difference. Based on that, the county is advertising the examples of a home with a fair market value of $180,000 having taxes rise by about $3.57 and a non-homestead property with a fair market value of $140,000 seeing a change of about $2.86.

“The White County Board of Commissioners works diligently to keep White County’s millage rate as low as possible while providing the necessary services to the ever-growing population and want to stress that their intent is to maintain the current millage rate of 10.75,” county officials said in a public statement.

Under state law, the county is required to hold three public hearings and advertise for a tax increase since the proposed millage rate is still higher than the rollback rate. The hearings are scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Monday, July 26, and 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 2, with a formal vote on the millage rate potentially following.

They will be held at the White County Administration Building at 1235 Helen Highway in Cleveland.

The county adopted a Fiscal Year 2021-2022 budget June 28 after holding a pair of hearings. The roughly $27.9 million total budget includes a general fund of almost $22.5 million. The county projects using about $1.4 million from its fund balance savings to cover the difference in revenues and expenditures.

The budget includes seven new positions and cost increases related to employee health insurance. Another $600,000 was included for planned employee pay raises – 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment and potentially another 2.5% merit raise that is based on employee performance reviews.

The White County Board of Education is looking to rollback their millage rate to 16.060 for Fiscal year 2022. This is a rollback from the previous rate of 17.394. Board members approved the budget at their June 24 meeting.

The school board is scheduled to vote on setting the millage at their regular meeting on Thursday, July 29, at 6 p.m.

The city of Helen is looking has proposed a rollback of its 5.728 millage rate to 5.509. The city has rolled back the rate for the last few years. Commissioners approved the budget at a called meeting on June 24.

The Helen City Commission is set to vote on the millage rate at a called meeting on Friday, July 30 at 10 a.m.

The city of Cleveland is looking to rollback their millage rate to 5.918 from 5.934 for FY 2022. Council members approved the budget at their meeting on June 14.

The Cleveland City Council will set the millage rate at their meeting on Monday, Aug. 2, at 6:30 p.m.