Despite the longest Millage Public Hearing ever, people are still very confused by why, how, and how much taxes are going up.

This may be partly because most Lowndes County officials (elected, appointed, or employee) are not willing to say in public how we got here. Lowndes County Chief Appraiser Lisa Bryant did make a long presentation at the Historic Courthouse about that, but many people did not attend. Plus there are a few further wrinkles.

Collage @ LCC 15 October 2024

For many years, the Tax Appraisers were not keeping up with valuations as they changed due to increased sale prices of comparable properties.

When the appointed Tax Assessors first came in, many of their staff (the Appraisers) left, and the remaining staff are busily catching up. The appointed Tax Assessors spent a great deal of time at the office for the first year, getting this changeover started.

So valuations are going up. This pass they got to commercial valuations, which went up. Also, they’re applying the law about what is a business, which includes for example that some church properties being used for non-church purposes are not exempt. Property owners do get a letter from the Tax Assessors saying what the new valuation is and saying how the owner can appeal. Many appeals are successful. Some the Tax Assessors appeal to court, and some of those they win.

But remember, taxes are actually valuation (adjusted by homestead exemptions, conservation easements, LOST, etc.) times millage. Commissioner Clay Griner tried to explain that.

Property Tax Example

Finance Director Stephanie Black showed where the money goes: mostly to schools, Sheriff’s Department, and courts.

After her presentation, Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter said that the Lowndes County Commissioners had no intent to raise the millage. Instead, they intended to roll back the millage to a lower number.

This was already hinted in the agenda for the Lowndes County Commission meetings:

The Board of Commissioners is required to set the millage rate for 2024. The county-wide millage for 2024 was advertised at 7.804 mills, requiring advertisement of a tax increase of 6.09% and three public hearings. The rollback millage for 2024 is 7.356 mills. The 2023 millage rate was 8.778.

So that’s a 16.2% decrease in the millage rate since last year. Which means very few people are going to see the 20% tax increase they fear. Really, more like 3 or 4%. Or, as Clay Griner said about the Unincorporated tax example, 5% over two years. In many cases, the increase is due to no valuation change in many years.

Unincorporated Property Tax Example

The actual taxes collected with the rollback millage will be 1.86% more than last year.

Millage Calculation

Meanwhile, the Board of Tax Assessors and the Tax Appraisers actually following state law has avoided what has happened in some other counties. McIntosh County, for example, Maggie Lee, The Current, July 15, 2024, McIntosh County must pay penalty or fix assessments: Tax audit for 2022 found deficiencies in taxation for homes, public utilities.

[The Georgia Department of Revenue] is ordering McIntosh to make equitable and uniform assessments or face a $63,070 penalty.

The county must provide its Board of Assessors with the equipment, personnel, supplies, transportation and software necessary to ensure that 2025 assessments can pass the state’s review, according to one of the top points in a consent order signed by the county and the state last month.

The order refers back to the 2022 tax year, when the state found deficiencies in McIntosh’s treatment of homes and public utilities and noted that the county had failed to correct prior problems.

Ware County is also under a Consent Order.

There is room for further improvement.

I can’t say that the county is supplying the Lowndes County Tax Assessors all the “equipment, personnel, supplies, transportation and software necessary” to do their job.

The Lowndes County Commissioners, the Chamber, the Development Authority, etc., keep pushing development northwards, into agricultural and forestry areas. I wish I could say the Tax Appraisers were no longer helping with that, but I cannot.

Also, the county could put the presentation slides on their own website. Along with the board packets.

Finally, people are rightly distressed over having to work two jobs to make ends meet. But the source of that problem lies way higher up, in price gouging by big corporations disguised as inflation.

Below are LAKE videos of each agenda item, followed by a LAKE video playlist.

• 1. Call to Order 2. Public Hearing – Millage Rate
  

  Video.

  This part is the presentation given by finance director Stephanie Black.

• 2. Public Hearing – Millage (public comment portion)
  

  Video.

• Comments and 3. Adjournment at Millage Public Hearing
  

  Video.

Here is the LAKE video playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLshUv86fYkiESmpobmIVqm87NQN9i2JYj&si=9tjnE6F-qlvdTlBf

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