Minutes from the Board of Commissioner's Public Hearing September 16, 2021:
"Mr. Ledbetter then advised that in 2020, Spalding County set the millage rate at 16.138 mills. This year, the Tax Commissioner calculated our tax digest at 15.562 mills. On March 11th of this year, the American Rescue Plan Act became law and in July, we received our first tranche of funds. Section M – Coronavirus State And Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, in Section 602, the law states: “(2) FURTHER RESTRICTION ON USE OF FUNDS. — “(A) IN GENERAL.—A State or territory shall not use the funds provided under this section or transferred pursuant to section 603(c)(4) to either directly or indirectly offset a reduction in the net tax revenue of such State or territory resulting from a change in law, regulation, or administrative interpretation during the covered period that reduces any tax (by providing for a reduction in a rate, a rebate, a deduction, a credit, or otherwise) or delays the imposition of any tax or tax increase.” Staff interpreted this to mean that should we reduce our net tax revenue, we are subject to forfeiting the $12,956,276 we received. A law called the Georgia Taxpayer Bill of Rights requires that local governments either roll back their millage rates to compensate for rising property values or announce the revenue gain as a tax increase. This year’s situation is somewhat unusual in response to a terrible pandemic and an unprecedented situation. Staff is recommending that the Board of Commissioners NOT accept the rollback. We would ask the Commissioners to adopt the same millage rate from 2020 – 16.138 mills. By accepting staff recommendation, the taxpayers of Spalding County who have a home that assessed for $100,000 and the home retained its value from 2020 to 2021, and the homeowner filed homestead exemption, the difference between the proposed millage rate of 16.138 and the rollback 15.562 would equate to $23. But again…if your home held the same value as last year, the homeowner would pay the same amount of taxes as last year."