The Walker County Board of Education is proposing a 7% increase in its portion of the property tax levee for the fiscal year, according to the school system.
The district is proposing to keep its millage rate steady at 14.982 mills for fiscal year 2025, but the system will bring in more money from property taxes due to this year’s higher assessed property values. Because of the proposed increase, the system is required by law to host three public meetings later this month, according to a district news release.
The proposed tax increase for a homestead exemption home with a fair market value of $225,000 is about $87 dollars, the release said.
Setting the millage rate is part of the system’s budget process. The proposed budget totals nearly $149 million, according to the district.
The first two public tax levee meetings are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Walker County Department of Education, 301 N. Cherokee St. in LaFayette. The third meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Aug. 29 at the Advancing Education Center, 925 Osburn Road in Chickamauga.
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Gary Rowlls, a resident of Rock Spring, said the school board’s plan is taking advantage of inflated property values to boost its revenue beyond what he thinks is realistic. In a Facebook message, he said it’s an added financial burden for homeowners in a time of high inflation.
“My property tax has doubled in the past five years with the majority of that coming from the school tax,” Rowlls said.
He said he’d like to know where the increased revenue has been going and what the school system is doing to cut spending.
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Damon Raines, Walker County superintendent, spoke about the district’s proposed budget in a June planning session recording online. He said the school system has rolled back its millage rate for the past two years to offset some of the increases in the county’s assessed property values.
If the system took the full millage rate roll back this year, Raines said, its millage rate would be below 14 mills. That would mean the district would lose funds from the state for less prosperous counties, he said, a funding mechanism called equalization.
A full millage rate rollback keeps the school system’s revenue from property tax equal to what was brought in the previous year and does not require public meetings.
“The law states that if your millage rate and your effective millage rate goes below 14, you lose your equalization,” he said. “And you know, this year our equalization is $12 million-plus.”
All school systems are required to allocate 5 mills to the state for equalization, Raines said, and those funds are reallocated to school districts based on the value of the district’s real estate digest.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.