MillageRate.com

The following was sent to various State Representatives. It is provided here to promote your understanding of the millage rate calculation process.

Subject: The answer to high tax bills

Representative,

In the past, the State Legislature has enacted or proposed a number of measures intended to address the impact of rising property assessments on the taxpayer’s annual bill. You are familiar with HR-58, which would significantly reduce property taxes by replacing the school portion with a state sales tax, but has its own set of problems. HR-162 would constitutionally limit increases in homestead property values. In the past, the state has enacted several laws, including Roy Barnes’ “Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights,” which were intended to address this same problem.

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Early next month, the Clarke County city of Winterville will hold three public hearings prior to adopting its 2005 property tax (millage) rate. The hearings are required by the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights (TaBoR) law adopted in 2000.

The TaBoR requires cities, counties and school boards to hold the hearings and advertise an “Intent to Increase Taxes” when they choose to adopt a millage rate that exceeds the “rollback rate,” which is the previous year’s millage reduced by the same percentage by which the Net Tax Digest grows as a result of increases in the assessed value of existing properties.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2005

MUSCOGEE SCHOOL SYSTEM NAMED TO “HALL OF MILLAGE RATE SHAME”

MillageRate.com, an advocacy group committed to promoting honesty in property taxation in Georgia, has named the Muscogee County School District to its “Hall of Millage Rate Shame” at its web site, www.millagerate.com.

The “Hall of Millage Rate Shame” highlights the “worst of the worst” Georgia taxing authorities who abuse the property taxation process, usually by overtaxing its residents through the setting of an arbitrarily-established millage (tax) rate. Those listed in the “Hall of Millage Rate Shame” have established a long history incorrect taxation, grossly overtaxed or undertaxed its constituents, and publicly demonstrated ignorance of the property tax process.

The Muscogee County School District is the “Hall of Millage Rate Shame’s” inaugural member. The school district’s inclusion was based on an analysis of its budgets and tax rates for the past three years. Other proposed members are currently pending verification and analysis.

“The Muscogee County School Board has a dark and checkered history of overtaxation,” says MillageRate.com founder Bob Griggs. “The school system has set the millage rate, 23.37, at the same number for the past 15 years– a mathematical impossibility. For at least the past three years, the school system has grossly overtaxed the residents of Muscogee County and blamed it on somebody else.”

Griggs said that the school board’s annual contention that it has not “raised taxes” in 15 years is a terrible deception. Last year, for example, the owner of a $150,000 home paid $88.68 more than necessary in property taxes for schools. This year, the school board is set to overtax Muscogee residents again.

Public hearings on the millage rate are set for April 25, May 9 and May 16. The school board proposes to adopt the inflated millage rate immediately following the May 16 hearing.

“The facts are undeniable,” said Griggs. “The Muscogee County School system wants to take more from Muscogee property owners than is required to fund its 2006 budget. The only reason they can claim that it is not a “tax increase” is because they did the same thing the year before– and the year before that.”

According to Griggs, Muscogee’s school millage rate should actually be closer to 22.00, depending on the net tax digest. Griggs said that the school board can reduce the tax rate by 6% and still fully fund the budget.

“More importantly, the Muscogee School Board has the opportunity to deal honestly with its constituents,” said Griggs.

MillageRate.com is a grassroots effort seeking a state law requiring taxing authorities– cities, counties and school boards– to set a mathematically-correct millage rate. For more information about MillageRate.com, visit the web site or contact Bob Griggs, 770-713-8070 or bobg@millagerate.com.

You’ve heard the stories, I am sure– in counties across Georgia and especially in areas with overheated development economies like Gwinnett, rising assessments for property tax purposes are literally taxing some people off of their land. Each county Tax Commissioner is required to value property at “fair market value” for tax purposes. Individual property values climb, whether or not the property owner has any intent to sell.

For the rest of this overview by our founder, Bob Griggs, visit his personal blog.