After months of study and weeks of going over departmental budgets line-by-line, the Marion County Board of Supervisors is proposing a 4.58 mill property tax increase.
The Board met in special session Tuesday with CPA Cathy Slocum after four days of budget hearings.
Board President Calvin Newsom said it was a difficult decision.
“Even with the 4.58 mill increase, it put us probably where we needed to be two years ago,” he said. “We are two or three years behind.”
District 2 Supervisor Terry Broome said he is also concerned about potential bridge closings that could be coming soon after inspections.
“We may have to deal with this before December,” he said. “The cost of posting a bridge and losing it is $2,500. We don’t even have the money to buy the signs to close them.”
Newsom said the county doesn’t have enough cash to fix the roads that lead to the bridges, which could make detours difficult.
Broome said bridges are an important part of economic growth in Marion County.
“If people can’t get to work or potential employers come in and see bridges closed, it could be detrimental. The only thing we’ve got going to be able to dig our way out of this situation is economic growth,” he said.
The Board then voted unanimously to advertise the millage increase in the newspaper and hold a Sept. 7 public hearing.
The Board met for more than an hour Tuesday to discuss the options and draft the notice of the increase and the announcement of the meeting. This came on the heels of four days of intense budget scrutiny with Slocum, CPA Charlie Prince and County Comptroller Susie Bridges.
The county is operating currently with a projected total budget revenue of $18,497,616. About 51 percent of the county’s total budget revenue, or $9,454,250, is obtained through property taxes. These are the taxes on homes, automobile tags, utilities, business fixtures and equipment, and rental property. For the 2017-18 fiscal year, the proposed budget has a total projected revenue of $20,919.87.
According to the figures, the 4-mill increase would go to Marion County and the .58 mill is necessary because of the funding request by the Marion County School District. In the prior year, the Board of Supervisors reduced the school district’s levy by 1 mill, which in turn caused a shortfall for the schools. The increase of the tax levy by 3.75 mills is funding general operations of the county and the increase of .25 mills is for road construction debt.
Reappraisal also figures into the total, but the increase would likely not cover the amount needed by the county.
“The same amount of money is not going to get you what you need,” Slocum told the Board. “The numbers are not going to change.”
Broome looked over revenues from utilities taxes and noted a reduction. Slocum said that reduction would all but wipe out any increases from reassessment.
Slocum said the Board has many issues to deal with.
“You have to worry if you’ve got enough money in the bank account to make it through Jan. 15 when taxes come in. You have to worry if we’re spending our money the way we are supposed to be spending it,” she said.
