Whitfield County commissioners to hold property tax rate hearings

Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·3 min read

Aug. 12—The Whitfield County Board of Commissioners will hold public hearings on the county's 2022 property tax rate on Thursday at 5 p.m.; Thursday, Aug. 25, at 6 p.m.; and Friday, Aug. 26, at noon, when board members are expected to adopt the tax rate.

All meetings will be in the commissioners meeting room in the courthouse at 205 N. Selvidge St. in Dalton.

While commissioners advertised that the levy would be "15.71% over the rollback rate" needed to cancel out additional revenue resulting from this year's reassessments, Board of Commissioners Chairman Jevin Jensen said commissioners plan a full rollback and he wants to "set the example for other taxing authorities." City of Dalton officials said Friday that the commissioners have assured them they plan a 100% rollback, a condition the City Council required for council members to approve the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) agreement reached last week.

"That (15.71%) is just the maximum, worst-case scenario," Jensen said. "We could do the rollback in one meeting but having three meetings gives the maximum opportunities for citizens' input. With all the concerns over the assessments this year we wanted to ensure we heard from everybody."

Jensen said the tax digest hasn't been finalized, so it isn't clear what the full rollback rate will be.

"People can still appeal through Monday, so it is still preliminary," he said in an email. "The M&O (maintenance and operations) rollback rate as of today would be 6.319 (mills), almost exactly one mill less than last year (.993 mill less). We haven't calculated the special tax districts' rollback rates yet. It would likely be a similar percentage reduction though."

The special tax districts cover all of the county except the city of Dalton and fund the Whitfield County Fire Department and services offered jointly with the city of Dalton.

Whitfield County officials said the assessed value of residential properties rose an average of 22% this year. Commercial and industrial assessments rose an average of 15%. Assessments are set by the county Board of Assessors. Members of that board are appointed by the county Board of Commissioners. But the assessors are independent of the county and have to follow rules and regulations set by the state.

County officials have noted that even if they roll the tax rate back 100%, property owners whose assessments rose more than average will see a tax increase. And since residential property assessments rose, on average, more than commercial and industrial, residential property owners are more likely to see increases.

The commissioners and state Rep Kasey Carpenter, R-Dalton, have said they are working on a proposal that would automatically adjust each homeowner's homestead exemption each year to offset the impact of reassessments.

The plan would have to be approved by the state legislature, which won't meet again until January, so it would not affect this year's property taxes but could take effect before next year's assessments are done.

Carpenter said about 20 Georgia counties have such a system where homestead exemptions automatically adjust to changes in assessments, so he is confident the legislature will approve the law.