An open letter to the Hoschton City Council:
As you revise your charter, I would suggest, in regards to the calculation and adoption of the millage rate, that the charter simply require that you follow the procedure that has been recommended and taught by the Department of Revenue for decades.
There is only one CORRECT way to calculate the millage rate so that government takes no more and no less from its property owners than required to fully fund the budget.
You can learn the correct way to calculate the rate at www.millagerate.com/howto.htm . I am available to discuss the benefits of following the correct procedure at your convenience.
The millage rate, currently a hot button issue in Hoschton, is one area [Council member Jim] Jester wants to re-evaluate. Right now, he said, Hoschton can levy a property tax "from 0 to infinity."
"I mean literally it can be anything without a public referendum," he said.
Hoschton revamping 90-year-old charter
[The following was sent to the author of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article here.]
What DeKalb did appears to be exactly CORRECT…. at least, if your interest is in fairly valuing property.
The consideration of foreclosures and other distressed sales does not produce a true market value; it does not contribute to equity and fairness in property taxation.
SB-55 not withstanding, DeKalb did the right thing when it considered available Fair Market Value sales over, or instead of, distressed sales in its valuation of property.
Read more…
House Republicans will try once again to pass HR1, a resolution calling for a vote on a constitutional amendment to impose a permanent, statewide assessment cap. I sent the following to every member of the House by email:
House Democrats– please continue to resist efforts to pass HR1, now incorporated into SR1.
On this issue (statewide assessment cap), YOU ARE RIGHT and the REPUBLICANS ARE WRONG. The harm that this bill will cause is measurable and easily proven.
By resisting SR1/HR1, you will give Georgians REAL TAX RELIEF because you will have protected them from HIGHER TAX RATES caused by ignorant, POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED REPUBLICANS.
I am a conservative, but I am also intellectually honest. I am disgusted by Republicans’ refusal to understand this issue.
Please visit MillageRate.com/blog/ for more info. If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact me at 770-713-8070. Further, I am available to respond on your behalf to any effort by Republicans to use this vote against you.
It takes a two-thirds majority to call a referendum. That means Democrats would have to vote for it. They didn’t. Now the legislation is back. The House Rules Committee pasted it into Senate Resolution 1, state Sen. Chip Rogers repeated effort to get some sort of TABOR amendment into the state constitution.
Georgia Legislative Watch » HR 1 back from the dead
Democrat Senators Tim Golden (D-Valdosta) and Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna) have co-authored an editorial highlighting the foundational problem with HB-233, Rep. Edward Lindsey’s assessment cap legislation that passed the Senate yesterday and is headed for the Governor’s desk:
We do need to deal with rising property taxes in a responsible way. State government has actually been a big part of the problem – especially when it comes to shifting the burden to the local level. By handcuffing local governments through drastic funding cuts and unfunded mandates, the state has practically guaranteed that property taxes will go up, and go up they have.
We have railed against this harmful legislation for weeks, but our reasoned analysis fell on deaf ears. Although the two Senators failed to offer the only workable solution to the problems with Georgia’s tax code, they recognized that the State Legislature, with what “solution” it offers, usually just compounds the problem.
Erick at Peach Pundit questions just how committed to `tax relief` the two Democrats are. Neither Senator even voted when the time to oppose HB-233 came.
Valdosta Daily Times – Passing the buck to local governments is not ‘tax relief’
The Georgia State Senate has passed an amended version of HB-233, a bill to prohibit increases in the assessed value of property for the next two years. The changes will probably have to be reconciled with the House version, but the vote puts the bill one step closer to passage.
Almost every Senator from my home county of Gwinnett, both Republican and Democrat, voted FOR this bill. That is extremely unfortunate, as this article at TalkGwinnett.com explains.
Gwinnett property owners already face an estimated 2-mill increase this year. If it passes, HB-233 will add another .02 mills– approximately $22– on a tax bill that is already increasing by $144 for the owner of a $200,000 home.
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