The Fannin County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to move forward by accepting a rollback millage rate of 3.862 for 2020 during the board’s Monday, August 10 meeting.
This rate, which is down from 2019’s rate of 3.938, will provide the county with an extra $62,000, Chairman Stan Helton said.
“The ‘zero number,’ where we don’t have to declare that a tax increase, in other words declare a tax rollback, that rate would go from the current 3.938 to 3.862,” Helton said. “A very insignificant rollback, but even with that, our anticipated tax revenue would increase by $62,000.”
According to Helton, a tax increase, resulting in a revenue to the county of $186,000, would be seen if the board had chosen to keep the millage rate the same.
“If you maintain your millage rate the same as you did the year before, and you have an increase in your tax revenue, an increase over a certain percentage, you have to declare that a tax increase,” he said. “This year, what we’re looking at is that if we leave the millage the rate the same as it was the preceding year, we would gain an additional $186,000 in tax revenue by not even changing the millage rate, but that also would entail a process that we would have to go through where we legally have to declare that a tax increase … and what we would gain from it, quite honestly, is very negligible. If I have to go to the effort of declaring it a tax increase, it would have to be for a heck of a lot more than $186,000 out of a $28 million plus budget.”
Post Two Commissioner Glenn Patterson explained that he did not feel comfortable raising the millage rate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A lot of people still in Fannin County are hurting, and I am certainly not in favor of a tax increase at this time,” Patterson said. “I would go certainly with the rollback.”
Post One Commissioner Earl Johnson agreed, stating, “I’m not going to be remembered for raising taxes during the middle of a pandemic. … Last year, before all of this hit, ya know we all know at some point in Fannin County when things finally maybe get back on the right track, ya know there’s going to have to be an increase somewhere just simply to keep up with the growth we’re experiencing, but right now is just not the time.”
He further explained that he felt differently about the millage rate six months ago, before the pandemic.
“I felt like, at the time, the county needed to offer better and more services, and maybe a millage rate increase or staying the same would be fine, but right now, the climate we’re in now, as I said before, I’m not going to be remembered for raising the taxes during this,” Johnson said.
The county sent their decision to move forward with a rollback rate to the Fannin County Board of Education, who also decided to go with a rollback rate during their meeting Thursday, August 13. Later this month, the Board of Commissioners will have the opportunity to vote to accept both rates.