Walker County Schools propose property tax increase with new budget

Staff photo Andrew Wilkins / At a meeting Thursday night in Chickamauga, Damon Raines, superintendent of Walker County Schools, describes expenditure increases in the school district’s proposed fiscal year 2023 budget.
Staff photo Andrew Wilkins / At a meeting Thursday night in Chickamauga, Damon Raines, superintendent of Walker County Schools, describes expenditure increases in the school district’s proposed fiscal year 2023 budget.

In the first of three legally-required Walker County Board of Education meetings Thursday night, Damon Raines, superintendent of Walker County Schools, outlined reasons why the school system's proposed fiscal year 2023 budget has increased -- and why property taxes are going up for many homeowners.

"We always start out with our mission and vision: our mission and vision is to ensure all students graduate, ready for college, ready for work, ready for life. That's what we do and base every decision on," Raines said to the crowd gathered at the Advancing Education Center in Chickamauga.

Raines said the school system's total budget is proposed to be $121 million. This was the first of three required public hearings the Board of Education is required to hold before it can vote to pass the budget. The next two are both scheduled for Aug. 25 at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., respectively. The board is expected to vote on the budget at the 6 p.m. meeting.

 

The 2023 fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

Under the school system's proposed tax rate increase, a home with a fair-market value of $225,000 and a homestead exemption would owe $1,241.15 in taxes -- an increase of $202.40.

In a separate process and vote, the Walker County Board of Commissioners is also proposing an increase for its portion of property taxes. For a home with a fair market value of $225,000, the commission's proposed millage rate would result in a property tax increase of approximately $34.92 in the county's unincorporated area, and $34.58 in incorporated areas.

(READ MORE: Higher property assessments follow jump in Walker County, Georgia, housing sales)

Several of the approximately 20 in-person attendees of the recent meeting had questions of why elderly homeowners still have to pay school taxes.

William Coleman Sr., a Chickamauga resident, was concerned about people on a fixed income, and he also said the school system should have done more to advertise the meeting so more of the public could attend.

"How do they (local government) expect them (the elderly) to keep on paying taxes when they ain't got nothin' to pay with? I ain't got a raise," he said.

Raines said Coleman has a valid point, and legislators would be the ones to decrease the property tax responsibility for the elderly.

Raines said the state takes $5 million from every school district statewide, and those funds are given back to districts to "equalize the playing field" for low-wealth districts. Raines said Walker County Schools receives about $9 million annually due to that state equalization program.

Raines said Gov. Brian Kemp gave a $3,000 raise to teachers before the COVID-19 pandemic, and an additional $2,000 this year. All total, this year's raises added $2.3 million to the school system's budget, he said. A local $500 supplement for teachers added $637,000, and teacher raises for experience added another $1 million, approximately.

Classified employees -- the school system's bus drivers, attendants, paraprofessionals, secretaries, bookkeepers, food service workers, and custodians -- haven't had a salary increase "in a while," Raines said, so they were given a 6% raise in this year's budget. Additional "steps" were given to employees paid based on experience, raising their pay.

"If you look at pay scales around us, we're having to compete with a lot of other businesses now," Raines said, and the budget increase totaling $5.1 million for classified employees is to attract and retain employees.

Raines also said the school system needs more bus drivers, even though they've cut the number of bus routes and added $2 to driver pay.

Raines said the first round of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund money bought protective equipment, with later rounds funding computers, and summer school programs to help students catch up. Those funds were part of the American Resuce Plan Act.

Raines said the school system used the Emergency Relief funds to hire social workers, behavior specialist, and "added support systems to deal with the isolation and anxiety that came alongside COVID-19."

Those funds also paid for online registration for parents, a protective filter for internet searches called GoGuardian, and 7 Mindsets, a program that teaches social emotional skills and soft skills.

Added security measures are being discussed with the county commission, including the possibility of adding more school security officers. Raines said they have "great" security now, but systems are constantly being updated.

After the meeting, Coleman's son William Coleman Jr. said that if anything was going to change, more people need to get involved with decisions made about local taxes. William Coleman Sr. said he thinks the public should be able to vote on tax increases.

Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.


If you go

The next Walker County Schools millage rate public meeting is Thursday at 11 a.m.

The final meeting where the proposed budget is scheduled to be adopted by the Walker County Board of Education is Thursday at 6 p.m.

Both meetings will be held at Walker County Department of Education, 201 South Duke Street in LaFayette. The meetings will be recorded and are available on the school system’s website.

 



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