Chatham County sets millage rate, most homeowners should pay the same

A lot of us may not get too hung up on millage rates. We just want to know how much our property taxes are going to be from year to year. Chatham County Commissioners on Tuesday adopted the same millage rate for 2009 that was used for 2008.

"For most people, their taxes are staying the same, homeowners in particular," says Pat Monahan, assistant county manager. It's even possible some may pay a bit less if the assessed value of their property has declined.

That's the short version. The long version is that the county, like so many other local governments across the state, is struggling. And this is one more example.

In a normal year, county leaders would have taken a look at the tax digest (all the property they can collect taxes on), the assessed value of that property (which for a long time has been increasing), and set the millage rate accordingly. And because of a Georgia law that says they can't do "back door" tax increases, the millage rate would have been rolled back so the amount of taxes collected would remain the same.

"This year was an anamoly though," says Monahan. "Because of declining values and changes in the tax digest, technically, the county could have increased the millage rate to make everything jell. It's certainly nothing I've seen in my 30 years in government."

Monahan says a "roll up", was nothing commissioners ever really considered. Again, the millage rate will remain the same for 2009.

He does tell me that even with the same millage rate, about two million dollars more in taxes will be collected this year. He says that's due to decreased exemptions on property. (For example, if a home was purchased in 2009, the Stevens Day exemption will be less, so more will be paid in tax.)

He also says that countywide, there was a four percent decline in value in the tax digest as of January. That includes new construction and additions. Monahan says as we are now six months into the year, the value of the tax digest may have declined even more. And he says the amount of sales tax revenue has decreased about ten to fifteen percent.

Monahan says the county has cut departments three percent, dropped employee raises, as meager as they were, and made additional cuts in services.

"Still, most people are not going to notice a significant change in services or a change in their tax bill," Monahan tells me.

The rate (10.537 mills or about $10.54 cents per $1,000 dollars of net taxable value) would require a homeowner with a home valued at $100,000 to pay about $430 dollars in taxes or the same as 2008. The average home value in Chatham County by the way is about $160,000 dollars, according to Monahan. So, he says most homeowners will pay about $548 in property tax this year.

In some cases, Monahan says some homeowners will receive notices that their assessments have actually decreased, which would mean that the tax bill may be slightly less in 2009.