After a second round of hearings, Statesboro City Council again concluded its 2024 property tax millage rate hike decision with Mayor Jonathan McCollar casting his tiebreaker vote to end a 2-2 council deadlock, but adopting a compromise rate one-tenth of a mill less than the first time.

The final rate adopted with that 3-2 decision during a Thursday, Oct. 3 called meeting is 8.625 mills, or a half-mill more than last year’s 8.125, and not the full 1-mill increase to 9.125 mills that City Manager Charles Penny recommended. Because the state law known as the Georgia Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights requires local governments to count increased revenue from inflation in assessed property values as a tax increase, the city would have had to roll the rate back the rate to 7.326 mills to avoid announcing a tax increase and holding three hearings.

A smaller increase

As originally proposed, the 1-mill increase would have been a 12.3% hike in the rate itself, combining with assessment inflation to be a 24.56% rise in tax on properties on average. So, the half-mill increase actually adopted amounts to a 6.15% rate hike and limits the inflation-compounded total increase to about 18.4% on average.

The city used a property with a 2023 value of $200,000 in its examples. Whereas the previously proposed 24.56% total hike (1-mill increase plus value inflation) would have resulted in roughly $144 in additional tax on a $200,000 non-homestead property, the final 18.4% increase (the actual 0.5-mill hike plus inflation) results in roughly $108 added tax on the same property.

The city initially attempted to hold its three Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights hearings at noon and 6 p.m. Sept. 10 and 5:30 p.m. Sept. 17. But only Penny and other staff members and a few citizens – and none of the council members or mayor – attended the noon Sept. 10 hearing, and only Mayor Pro Tem Shari Barr, the District 5 council member, attended that evening’s hearing.

All the current council members and mayor attended the 5:30 p.m. Sept. 17 hearing, which was part of a regular meeting during which the council, after extensive debate, arrived at the compromise rate of 8.725 mills – the mayor’s reluctant suggestion after Barr offered 8.625 mills. That vote was also 2-2 with McCollar’s tiebreaker making it 3-2. The District 1 seat is currently vacant, leaving the council with just four district members.

But Cassandra Mikell, one of the co-founders of the Bulloch Action Coalition, had stated during the Sept. 17 hearing that the first two “hearings” had been invalid because a quorum of the council was required. Soon after the meeting, City Attorney Cain Smith agreed, noting Georgia Department of Revenue policy and an abortive legal challenge Mikell and BAC co-founder Lawton Sack brought against the Bulloch County Board of Education in 2023.

So, the mayor and council scheduled a new set of public hearings for Sept. 26 at noon and 6 p.m. and Oct. 3 at 6 p.m., and had a quorum present for all three. Penny did not present his slide show and detailed argument over again, but summarized, stating that even with a full 1-mill increase, the city would need to spend about $700,000 from its accumulated general fund \balance to balance the budget.

However, even at the rollback rate – which none of the officials proposed adopting – the city could have covered its planned spending and maintained a reserve equal to 25% of planned spending, a reduction from roughly a 28% current balance.

Major spending increases include the city’s new pay plan that gave all employees raises last January, costing about $2.3 million for the first full year, and a $1.2 million transfer from the general fund to the fire fund to keep it solvent. A federal grant used to hire 12 additional firefighters will expire after two more years, and that, and a need to compete in a “tough” labor market are among reasons Penny cited for wanting a higher millage rate.

“With the pay plan our salaries for our police officers went from $46,000 to a staring pay of $55,000 a year. We’ve dropped from 18 openings down to seven openings,” Penny said.

Mikell was one a few citizens who asked questions or spoke, mostly inn opposition to the tax hike, during the first new hearing and was reportedly the only citizen to speak at the second, the evening of Hurricane Helene’s approach.

But last week at the third and final hearing, three citizens spoke for the increase, one more neutrally asked questions and one spoke against the tax increase.

Council’s split

During council discussion, District 2 Councilmember Paulette Chavers again said she was “standing on” what she had said a year ago, having supported a larger proposed increase then and thinking it would have prevented a repeat tax hike now.

But District 4 Councilmember John Riggs, who works as a real estate appraiser, and District 3 Councilmember Ginny Hendley, previously a rental properties manager, stuck with their stance that property value inflation is already a burden on homeowners and results in enough revenue to fund the city budget without a millage hike.

“I am still against the tax increase at this time,” Riggs said. “That is because the housing market is skyrocketing, and I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next year, but over the next year I will reassess this from my point of view. I will reassess the situation and make another informed decision at this time next year.”

Barr again offered the compromise to 8.625 mills, noting that was what she had originally suggested during the Sept.  17 meeting.

“I’m not comfortable putting that much burden on taxpayers who are already having a hard time. I’m more comfortable with the city assuming a little more risk, getting a closer from the 28 to the 25% that we try to keep on hand,” she said. “We can still have that with a compromise motion.”

McCollar did not make the 8.725-mill suggestion again but instead argued passionately for the full one-mill increase. He noted that the council, for a third year now, was not raising the millage rate as much as the city manager and staff recommended. Council members had known they would be in this position again when they did not adopt the full increase last year in advance of the new pay plan, he asserted.

“This is totally irresponsible to keep putting our citizens through the same rigamarole,” McCollar said. “The same rigamarole, for three years straight we have had the same exact conversations, and each time we do not do what we are supposed to do.”

But after Riggs, the longest-serving councilmember, said he  reads  the budget and tax proposals carefully every year and is not being irresponsible, the mayor apologized. He had started out responding to criticisms from people  on social media and said he believes council members all want what is best.

Chavers seconded Barr’s motion for the 8.625 rate, and they voted for it. Hendley and Riggs voted “nay,” and McCollar case the deciding vote in favor.