The board of commissioners of Georgia’s Fulton County is proposing a 12.5% hike in property taxes to cover the costs of funding the county jail.
Atlanta First News reports the proposal involved an increase in the millage rate by one point to 9.87 mills, which would be equivalent of a 12.5% property tax hike. The funds generated by this increase would finance upgrades at the Fulton County Jail, which a US Department of Justice investigation found to be in need of significant improvements.
“We have mandated expenses to fix the inhumane conditions there,” said Commissioner Dana Barrett.
However, input at the initial public hearings was mostly unsupportive of the property tax increase, with residents using words such as “tyrannical” and “greedy” to describe the county government’s plans. Even Barrett acknowledged the proposal was not very popular.
“We are all homeowners here, so we pay the price, too – and nobody wants their taxes to go up,” said Barrett. “We’re just trying to walk that line and balance this the best we can for all the constituents in the county, including the people in our jail and that work in our jail.”
Barrett stressed the county was cognizant to homeowner needs, adding, “We have lowered the millage rate or kept it flat for almost ten years. And yes, appraisals go up, assessed values go up to some extent, so do costs. And so, the reality is we’ve already made a lot of cuts this year,” she said.
A final public hearing on this issue is scheduled for Aug. 6.
