Counties throughout Northwest Georgia are facing the annual balancing act between the cost of services and the revenue from tax dollars.
For the second year in a row, revenues in the recession-riddled economy are coming up short of expenses.
“Revenue is by far not what it should be, but we’re holding on,” said Dade County Executive Ted Rumley.
Leaders in other counties face the similar dilemma of raising taxes on cash-strapped residents or trimming more expenses from county departments that local leaders say already are cut to the bone.
“There’s not really a lot you can do,” Chattooga County Commissioner Jason Winters said. “I’m having to raise our millage rate just to get back to break even.”
In Chattooga County, which had a 15 percent drop in the overall value of taxable property this year, the rate likely will jump about 2.5 mills from its current 8.30.
Winters said last year’s reduction in the millage rates part of the reason for the increase this year.
Walker County also will be raising its rate 0.5 mills to 4.918 in the unincorporated parts of the county and 7.196 in the cities. Commissioner Bebe Heiskell said the increase will translate to about $19 on a $100,000 property.
Even with the increase, Heiskell still will have about $3 million in new funding requests from department heads that the county won’t be able to cover.
“I will not say for one second that they didn’t need it,” the commissioner said. “They’ve been sacrificing for a long time.”
Walker managed to cut enough expenses last year to avoid a tax increase but had to catch up with an increase this year.
On the flip side, some of the counties that raised rates last year are managing to stay flat for 2011.
Catoosa County commissioners trimmed $103,000 from the proposed budget to keep the millage rate steady at 5.386. Property owners faced a small tax increase from the county last year.
Financial Officer Carl Henson said Catoosa’s sales tax revenue had been up and down, but had more or less met expectations for the past year.
Whitfield County has had to dip into its reserves each of the last two years, nearly depleting the funds, according to Ron Hale, the county finance officer.
Next year’s budget, which commissioners will vote on in October, will need to include cuts to services and staff or increased tax revenue, Hale said. The county has a 5.061 millage rate, which applies to all residents, and Hale said commissioners “would like to keep the millage rate the same.”
But there will have to be some trimming of budgets, he said.
“We don’t have to solve it all in one year, but we most likely need to start moving in the direction of some cuts,” he said.
Murray County will keep its rate the same at 5.80 mills because of $375,000 in proposed budget cuts, including six furlough days for county employees. Even with the reductions, Financial Officer Tommy Parker still expects a shortfall because revenue is projected to decrease by $800,000. The $425,000 gap will have to come from the county’s reserves.
“We’re making cuts at every opportunity,” Parker said.
The county’s budget will be adopted in November.
Dade County’s millage rate will remain flat at 6.478 in unincorporated areas and 8.198 in the cities. Rumley said the county also will look for ways to cut expenses and said employee furloughs are “a very good possibility” as early as next month.
“We’ve got quite a ways to go before we get anywhere close to back to normal,” he said.
Staff writer Adam Crisp contributed to this story.