Marion County residents won’t see a property tax rate increase for the upcoming year thanks to juggling of funds and tight budgeting. And after several years of cuts, proposed spending will be roughly the same as last year.
“We’re glad we’ve got things back in line,” Board of Supervisors President Randy Dyess said. “It was difficult to make the decisions we did. We hope we don’t have to raise taxes anytime soon.”
The Board of Supervisors will host a public hearing on its nearly $21 million budget at 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 6 in the boardroom on Courthouse Square.
To keep the millage rate at 139.05, the board reallocated 1.87 mills from the Marion County School District to general county operations. The county schools will still receive the same amount of money, but it requires less mills to generate that much because of reappraisals and new properties added to the tax roll.
“We gave them what they asked for,” Dyess said. “We took the difference and it worked out to be 1.87 mills. Next year, it will be put back in the schools; that is the way it falls.”
The public is invited to the hearing Thursday and will be allowed to speak for a reasonable amount of time and offer tangible evidence before any vote is taken.
The final adoption of the budget is set for 2 p.m. Sept. 13 in the county boardroom.
