Newspaper Page Text
www.starnewsgaontine.com IStarJMews September 10, 2023 Page 13
REDUCED TAX from front page
will also reduce our funding because we voted
to lower the millage rate. That’s just the way the
system works. Taking these factors into consid-
“It’s not just about all your slides, about
whether or not your employees have
health insurance, or your employees
have the ability to have their Georgia
Teacher Retirement System. This is
about people being able to afford
groceries, this is about them being able
to afford to go to work” - Jennifer Shunn,
Director of Habitat for Humanity
eration is what led us
to this rollback rate.”
This 2023-24
lower millage rate
will reduce the aver
age Carroll County
homeowner about
$58 per year.
At the Monday,
August 7th board
meeting, the first
Public Hearing on the
millage rate was held. The Assistant
Superintendent of Finance Delene Wolfe pre
sented the basic information as to how the mil
lage rate is calculated. She said there were
more than 16,000 students in 23 schools now in
the Carroll County School System. There are
two College & Career Academic programs.
The FY2024 Proposed Budget of
$179,400,000 ($179.4M) is a $14,200 mcrease
over the FY2023 Budget. The county’s Digest
of Property Values increased from $2.8 billion
in 2023 to $3.5 billion in 2024, about 52% due
to inflation and 48% due to new builds or
remodels. The Property Digest drives the mil
lage rate.
Wolfe said 85% of the Proposed School
District FY24 Budget is for personnel, and 15%
for operations.
The priorities are for instruction and learner
achievement, building for anticipated enroll
ment growth, and retention of staff by making
their salaries closer to the average in the state.
According to Wolfe’s information, Carroll
County is now the third fastest growing school
district in Georgia. She said the board has voted
to lower the millage rate in 2011, 2016, 2017,
and 2022.
Other information Wolfe presented was that
Carroll County was the 6th lowest in invest
ment per student in the State of Georgia as of
2022, comparative to schools with 10,000+ stu
dents. She also said that the Digest and Millage
Rate increases result in an increased Local Fair
Share, and Local Fair Share increases result in
decreases in state funding for that county
(called Equalization Funding), even though this
equalization decrease occurs two years after the
increase in Local Fair Share increases.
At the present time, the Carroll County
School District has the 11th highest dollar allot
ment in state equalization.
Wolfe also informed the board that the tax
increase due to home inflation would cause a
$229.22 annual increase for a homestead prop
erty in Carroll County with an assessed value of
$300,000 (which is the average). For non
homestead property in Carroll County the aver
age tax increase would be $177.84.
The impact of lowering the millage rate
would be larger class sizes per teacher, and a
higher rate of teachers leaving Carroll County
for higher pay at another county, as well as
fewer support services for learners, etc.
Speaking during the Public Hearing, Jennifer
Shunn, Director of Habitat for Humanity, said
the property tax increase will be devastating for
low to modest income families. She said that in
breaking the average of $177.84 down into 12
months, the impact on a low income family
could affect whether they could buy that tank of
gas they need to get to work to provide for their
family. She emphasized a tax increase will put
great stress on families already struggling to
buy groceries and other necessities in the cur
rent inflationary ecomony, and that lowering
the millage rate - even a little bit - could help
people stay in their homes.
Her response to the needs that will be met per
student in the county school districts is that the
board is not taking into consideration the
learner’s home situation, “When students do
not have proper shelter, then they are less likely
to have decent grades;
they’re more likely to
leave school because
they need to help out
at home; and forty -
two percent of your
students are already in
a situation where their
families are
struggling.
‘It’s not just about
all your slides, about
whether or not your employees have health
insurance, or your employees have the ability to
have their Georgia Teacher Retirement System.
See 17.0 MILS page 25
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