Property assessments will weigh heavily in the final determination if individual 2021 Fannin County tax bills go up, down or stay the same this year.
But both Fannin County and the county board of education are anticipating more revenue based on their anticipated tax millage rates.
Fannin County’s five-year tax history shows the gross tax digest grew $100,793,831 between 2020 and 2021.
Chief appraiser Dawn Cochran said last week that within that growth some values went down, some up and some stayed the same.
She said reappraisals and assessed values are indicative of the current real estate market.
Houses and land are selling for higher prices than ever before. These higher sales are, in turn, part of the formula for establishing values on which assessments are established.
Based on the tax digest, and a decision not to rollback the millage rate, Commission Chairman Jamie Hensley said the county anticipates $156,648 in additional collections.
School system Finance Director Susan Wynn said the schools anticipated increase is $616,176 with a planned rollback rate.
Based on all 28,000 parcels of property in Fannin County, an average increase of $27.60 would appear on a tax bill, with $5.59 going to county government and $22.10 going to schools. However, officials stress that estimate would just be an average and actual bills would be determined by assessments and other factors affecting the individual bill.
Hensley said the county’s primary need for more money is driven by the current labor market.
“Keeping good employees goes a long way toward providing the services our citizens demand. In a time when it’s hard to find employees, our employee retention becomes more important than it ever has been,” Hensley said.
School board members have given preliminary approval to plans that will see teachers get an eight percent pay raise and other employees put on programs that will provide increased wages.
But because of the formulas the state uses for determining how to identify more revenue collected by a government, the county will be advertising its anticipated increase as a tax increase while the school board will not.
In their budgeting processes, the county plans to hold its millage rate the same as last year at 3.862 mills while the schools will adopt a rollback millage rate of 10.159 mills compared to last year’s 10.391 mills.
Hensley’s $156,648 estimated increase comes from maintaining the county’s current millage rate.
Because of the dollar amount increase, state rules classify the county government’s revenue increase a tax increase, which in turns calls for public hearings.
Fannin’s commissioners will hold three such hearings August 10, 17 and 24 at the courthouse. The hearings on the 10th and 24th will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the hearing on the 17th will start at 6 p.m. All will be held in the jury assembly room in the courthouse.
Meanwhile, the school’s rollback millage is below the millage rate that would have required the revenue increase to be called a tax increase. The board will not hold public hearings.
Blue Ridge attorney Lynn Doss, who serves as the county attorney and also represents the school board, explained there is a formula set by the state and “individual counties or cities have no leeway” in the formula.
So, it is easier for governments with the biggest budgets to avoid the terminology “tax increase” while those with small budgets cannot.
Based on a fair market value of $250,000, Fannin County taxpayers currently receive an average bill of $1,425, according to figures provided by Hensley. Of that, $1,039 goes to the school system and $386 to the county.
On a $1 million home, a tax bill of $5,701 generates $4,156 for the schools and $1,545 for the county.
(Editor’s note: For more about this story, see Growth comes with a price tag on page A4).