County holds meeting on millage rate
Budget still not in presentable form

By Michael Moore
Commissioner Robert Jones said additional expenses for courtroom security, the sheriff's office and fire departments are the main factors leading to a proposed millage rate hike at public hearings last week.
The commissioner is likely to give formal adoption to a millage rate of 6.26 to apply to this year's property taxes (compared to last year's rate of 6.16) at a November 13 meeting.
Because the increased rate will bring higher county property taxes by nearly six percent (according to state calculations) the county was required to conduct a series of public hearings before adopting it into law. Only two members of the public showed up at the first hearing Thursday.
In response to a question from Elden Bonnette about the non-existent budget, county finance director Mechelle Champion said a tentative budget has been set, but is not yet finalized for public announcement.
"We have a good handle on what we need," said Champion.
She also explained that with the new millage rate, revenue from property taxes this year will add up to $7.6 million, which is about $714,000 more than was collected with the lower millage rate in 2005.
The commissioner explained that to collect the same revenue as last year, factoring in changes in the tax digest, the millage rate would have been 5.909.
As an example of how property owners would be affected by the 5.94 percent increase in their taxes, he said a property that was worth $300,000 in both 2005 and 2006 would see a growth in their overall tax bill (including school taxes) by $24.
Jones said the state has mandated additional court security for next year, which must be paid for out of the county's general fund.
According to Chief Deputy Allen Wigington, who was present at Thursday's meeting, the Sheriff's Office's budgeted expenses will increase nineteen percent from 2006 to 2007.
He said most of the added costs are for heightened court security provisions, which will cost $240,000; rising fuel costs; and the hiring of six new deputies.
Wigington also noted the office currently has funding to keep four and a half deputies on patrol at all times. According to recent calculations, Wigington said their average response time to 911 calls is twelve minutes and twenty seconds.
Jones's plan to phase in paid personnel to county fire services added another new expense to next year's budget. But he noted that eventually, homeowners will see a savings in their insurance rates as fire service improves.
"It's not going to be overnight, but we're working towards the goal of lowering ISO ratings" throughout the county, said Jones.
Specifically, four new paid positions in fire services will be included in next year's budget. The local spending may not be necessary, however, as the county has also applied for a federal grant which would pay for most of the salaries for ten new paid firefighters.
"If that grant doesn't go through, we'll have these four new positions in the budget," said Jones.
County fire services will continue to rely heavily on volunteers whether the grant is won or not.
Elden Bonnette, who lives in Bent Tree, stated near the end of the meeting, "I don't like what I'm hearing [about the proposed tax increase] but I understand what you're saying."
A second hearing took place the following morning, and it received similar attendance to Thursday evening's hearing. The Progress was not in attendance at the second meeting.
According to the commissioner, one taxpayer was there to urge the commissioner to improve Pettit Road, on which he lives. Another attendee complained about school taxes, but Jones told him his office has no control over school board spending.
After Jones closed the meeting Thursday night and attendees were leaving the courtroom, two county employees faced off in a verbal skirmish that ended in shouting and exchanges of profanities.
Chief tax appraiser Roy Dobbs and director of planning Norman Pope were in disagreement over who should have more office space in the new administrative building, which all county departments are scheduled to move into by the end of this year.
Dobbs, the more audible of the two during the argument, complained to Pope that the planning office does less work with more people than Dobbs's tax assessors' office. Therefore, he reasoned the planning office should not have as much space in the new building as Pope had suggested.
Dobbs repeated his concerns to the commissioner after Pope left the building.