Politics & Government
Cherokee Votes To Reduce Tax Rate
Instead of raising its millage rate, the Cherokee County Commission will use reserve funds to pay for salary increases for its employees, including those serving in public safety agencies.
The Cherokee County Commission on Thursday voted to lower its property tax rates.
Commissioners voted 4-1, with Chairman Buzz Ahrens opposing, to reduce its total millage rate from 9.947 to 9.908 for 2014. The commissioners adopted the rate during its called meeting on July 24, and also adopted the Cherokee County School Board's 19.45 millage rate.
Broken down, the new county rates include:
- general fund: 5.728, down from
- fire district: 3.436, up from 3.373
- parks bond: .744, down from .776
For the past month, commissioners had been weighing the option whether to increase the millage rate to pay for cost-of-living adjustments for county employees, including those who serve in the public safety realm of government.
The county initially advertised increasing its millage rate as high as 10.268 — 5.890 for the general fund, 3.559 for the fire fund and .819 for parks.
However, Commissioner Jason Nelms introduced in a form of a motion a compromise that would implement the aforementioned rates and fund a 2 percent salary adjustment for regular county employees and 10 percent adjustment for those in public safety agencies.
Instead of raising the rates, the county would utilize $1 million in general fund reserves, $500,000 in fire reserves and another $500,000 in the sale of parks land to fund the adjustments.
Ahrens, who said he was "fully supportive" of the county's public safety agencies, stated he could not vote for the proposal. He noted he was concerned about the amount of reserves the county will offer up to cover the increases.
"I think we are biting off too much at one time," he said.
Nelms said the county is losing valuable public safety employees to surrounding cities that have the resources to provide competitive pay and benefits to their employees.When a public safety employee with valuable training leaves Cherokee County for another law enforcement agency, Nelms stated it's hard to replace that person since there so much cost and training involved to get a less experience person on the same level as his or her's more experienced colleagues.
Commissioner Ray Gunnin, who retired as fire chief in 2011, added the use of reserves won't affect the county's bond rating.
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Furthermore, Gunnin said surrounding agencies will soon begin hiring for police, fire and EMS personnel, so it's time for Cherokee County to become competitive.
"I think they all deserve more than what they make now for putting their lives on the line," he said, adding there's a chance the county will lose more employees if they don't "step up and do something about it."
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Harry Johnston, who said he came prepared to support a lesser tax rate and granting up to 90 percent of the requested salary adjustment, added he was "flexible" and wanted to see a balance struck between granting the increases and keeping property taxes as low as possible for residents.
Commissioner Poole added that this vote to increase salaries was not frivolous, as the money is going directly to county employees who need it the most. However, he once again called for Cherokee to visit ways they can reduce government spending and "tighten our belts."
Four residents spoke to the commissioners about the proposal. Bill McNiff said he was not opposed to raises, but was opposed to a tax increase. He noted the county hasn't "planned for" the need to increase salaries and, like Poole, encouraged them to look for ways in their budget to save money.
Another resident — Gene Carter — said he's lived in many areas across the country, including those that have lower taxes and those that have higher taxes.
Since he returned to Georgia two years ago, Carter said his property assessment went up 45 percent over the last two years, and believes many more people like him just may see a tax increase. The average assessment in his neighborhood jumped 17.26 percent over the last two years, he stated.
While he said he believes "everyone needs a decent salary," he encouraged county staff to revisit the numbers to determine just how many residents will see tax increases.
"I don’t want to see this area become an area that I would move from," he said, referring to the possibility of seeing higher taxes. "I came to Georgia to stay back in Georgia."
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