Brantley County Commission November 2012 Regular Meeting

The Commission welcomed about 200 Senior Citizens to the November regular meeting to discuss possible Board of Education Tax Exemption for homestead residential properties owned by citizens 65 or older. Two members of the Board of Education were in attendance, Kerry Mathie and Dot Hickox. A group of school teachers and administrators were also on hand to see the discussion first hand. A few citizens spoke during public participation about the challenges facing some seniors on fixes incomes. Dorothy Bolden came forward again demanding 100% exemption from school taxes before 1/1/2012. Others came forward and discussed their challenges. One member came forward to talk about his road on Whispering Pine Loop.

The Commission approved the minutes to the October meeting and approved the amended consent agenda and regular agenda next.
The Commission approved the following items on the consent agenda by vote of 4-0.
1. Approved off premise beer and wine license for Tejas J. Patel, d/b/a/ “Minit Mart” Central Avenue Extension (formerly T&R)
2. Approved off premise beer and wine license for Tina Marie Paten, d/b/a “Popwell’s Grocery”
3. Awarded bid for 2011, 2012, 2013 audit to BYRT, CPAs, Waycross, with language in the contract financial penalties if the audit is not delivered on time
4. Adopted resolution appointing County Clerk Dale Halligan as ACCG County Legislative Coordinator
5. Approved and executed contract for Inmate Medical Program with Blue / Cross Blue Shield, through ACCG
6. Adopted resolution for 2011 update of the short term work program
7. Reappointed Chad Scruggs and Pat Evans to the Recreation Advisory Committee
8. Change regular County Commission monthly from the second Tuesday to the month to the first Thursday after the first Tuesday of the month starting in January 2012. This placed the work session and the regular meeting closer together and better sequences the county meeting in concert with city and board of education meetings.
9. Approved lease agreement between the County and Concerted Service, Inc.

Much to the disappointment of the decently mannered crowd, the Commission opted to table item #1. This was the local legislation exemption from school board taxes for senior citizens with homestead properties that are used only for residential purposes. One commissioner explained that Jeff Chapman former State Senator had explained to him the Board of Education could pass a resolution crediting seniors from School taxes. The chairman had provided an analysis and alternatives to the Commission and due to the absence of one Commissioner, recommended that the item be tabled until the December work session which will be held at the Courthouse at 6pm December 6th. This would allow more time for the analysis. Nothing can happen until the Atlanta Legislative Session starts in mid January 2012 so there is time and this is too big of a decision to rush.

The discussion the chairman wants to focus on includes the need to help those who are on fixed incomes that have to make the hard choices. The discussion does not need to focus on who has children in school and who does not. The Chairman’s proposal is an extension of the current State plan. The current process is as follows. A property value of $100,000 has a taxable value of 40% or $40,000. The current state exemption for 65 year old homestead property owners is a $2,000 reduction in the taxable property value. So the taxable value is reduced to $38,000. The figure 1 below shows the current homestead properties and the exemptions they receive in Brantley County.

Where the leaders of the senior groups are demanding total exemption from board of education taxes, the seniors in the county own $72 million in property which carries a $28 million taxable value. This represents roughly 10% of the taxable digest. Figure 2 below shows the breakdown of seniors and the property values.

The Chairman’s proposal includes adding an additional $15,000 credit for homestead seniors 65 or older for both board of education taxes and County Commission taxes. The real goal is to help those having to make the hard choices. This approach works to help those and provides the same credit to the taxable property value amount across the board to all seniors which is the most fair and flat credit. This compares to a percentage which provides more of a dollar credit to the top income seniors v.s. those on lower incomes that are the focus. Those with more expensive properties will receive the same credit and will pay on the property value above the exemption. In the above example, a $100,000 property would still carry a taxable value of $40,000, it would get a $2,000 state mandated credit and then a $15,000 local credit to the value creating a reduced taxable value of $23,000. If the property was $500,000, then the taxable amount is 40% or $200,000, the state credit is still $2,000 and the local credit is still $15,000. So the new taxable value is $183,000.

The execution of this proposal would leverage existing processes already in place in the Tax Assessor’s office, would not require an arbitrary setting of an income level below which homestead seniors would get exempted while those above that level would have to pay 100% of their taxes and it creates no humiliating task of providing proof of income and researching same placing more burden on an already struggling system.

The impact of this approach is fairly straight forward to measure as the County has the list and property values for those of age 65 or older based on current exemptions. Figure 3 below shows the current millage rates, these existing property value credits for those properties, the proposed new property credits for those parcels and the average per parcel credit. This means that the average senior’s board of education tax bill would be lowered by approximately $259 if the BOE millage stayed at 18.53 and their county tax bill would be lowered by approximately $297 if the millage stayed at 20.34. This represents a total tax credit of approximately $556 per parcel.

When you remove these exemptions from the digest and recalculate the county tax millage rate, figure 4 below demonstrates that the millage rate for the county would go from 20.34 to 21.39 or a 1.05 mill increase. This proposal has been provided to the superintendent so that his team can review the impact to the school collections due to the new exemptions. Were the digest to increase or the commission be able to trim from next year’s budget, this could likely be managed with little or no increase in the County millage rate.

In other business the Commission approved reappointing Greg Strickland and Jill Tornabene to the Development Authority.

The Commission reviewed the application from Paul Minchew for a special event alcohol license for the Hortense Off Road Park. Commissioner expressed both concern over the vast complaints that have been heard from the neighbors around the park and understanding for Mr. Minchew wanting to come before the Commission and get a license when others alleged to be selling beer at the park do not have a license. In a split decision the vote failed and the license was not granted.

A letter was read to the Commission that was provided by Mary Gibson on behalf of the Airport Authority. In that letter Mary expressed her appreciation for the support the airport has received from state and local boards and agencies. She singled out a number of members that were instrumental in helping her get the airport to where it is today. In the closing paragraph, Ms. Gibson resigned her position on the Airport Authority. The County would like to thank Ms. Gibson for her years of service and unwavering commitment to the Airport. The Commission approved the acceptance of her resignation.