The Catoosa County Board of Commissioners is recommending a rollback of the Georgia county's millage rate in advance of the sole public hearing to discuss the proposed fiscal year 2022 budget on Thursday.
The proposed general fund budget of just under $32.4 million is up 2.56%, or $809,000, over last year's, excluding a $6.3 million transfer to the capital projects fund. The proposed millage rate, meanwhile, is 5.835 mills, representing a 0.583 decrease from last year's rate of 6.418 mills. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of a home's assessed value. Catoosa County assesses property value at 40%, so on a home with a fair market value of $175,000, residents would see a 9.08% reduction of their county property taxes under the proposed rate, Chief Financial Officer Rachel Clark said in a letter on Aug. 5.
Property tax funds are projected to make up 48% of the county's revenue and are expected to increase this year, Clark said, leading to an $809,000 increase in projected revenues. An additional 29%, or almost $9.5 million, of projected county revenues come from other tax sources, such as local option sales tax revenue.
The budget also includes special revenue, capital projects and enterprise funds.
Special revenue funds are used to account for financial resources that are legally or administratively restricted for special purposes, the largest of which are the fire and rescue fund and the E-911 fund. As proposed, the fire and rescue fund is budgeted for just under $6.3 million, which is 0.73% more than last fiscal year. The E-911 fund has a proposed budget of about $1.7 million.
Capital projects funds are used for the acquisition or construction of capital assets that are not paid for under other funds, such as land improvements, buildings and building improvements, vehicles and other equipment and machinery. Enterprise funds are used to account for all county operations that are financed on a self-supporting basis, such as solid waste management.
The largest expenditures proposed to come out of the general fund budget for fiscal year 2022 are $11.5 million for public safety, $6.7 million for general government expenses and $4.4 million for judicial expenses.
A public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2022 budget will be held Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the Catoosa County Administrative Building meeting room, located at 800 Lafayette St. in Ringgold. The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to adopt the proposed budget on Friday, Aug. 20, at 10 a.m. at the same location. This would be the fifth year that the county has rolled back the millage rate, according to commission Chair Steven Henry.
A full copy of the proposed fiscal year 2022 budget can be found online at catoosa.com/departments/view-all-departments/finance or at the Catoosa County Courthouse.
Contact Kelcey Caulder at kcaulder@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @kelceycaulder.