The Catoosa County Board of Commissioners has officially adopted its budget for the fiscal year that will start Oct. 1, including an adjusted tax rate of 5.835 mills.
The millage was lowered to the rate that would be required to collect the same amount of property taxes, rather than having the county bring in more money as a result of rising property values. Last year's rate was 6.418 mills.
"On behalf of the Board of Commissioners, we are pleased to maintain our fiscal responsibility with a new budget that includes another rollback of the property tax rate and supports the high-quality services that the citizens we serve expect," Catoosa County Commission Chairman Steven Henry said in a statement.
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A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of a home's assessed value, and Catoosa County assesses property values at 40%. When factoring in the higher property values and the lower millage rate, the actual taxes due are expected to stay about the same.
Property tax funds are projected to make up nearly half of the county's budgeted revenue at 48%. Projected revenues increased by $817,000, Chief Financial Officer Rachel Clark said, because of an increase in special purpose local option sales taxes.
"We were able to roll back our tax rate because some houses are now valued at a higher rate, so we can roll back our percentage and make the same amount of tax off of the properties," Clark said.
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The general fund budget of just under $32.4 million is up 2.59% over last year's.
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The largest expenditures that will 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 full copy of the budget can be found at bit.ly/catoosa-bud or at the Catoosa County Courthouse.
Contact Kelcey Caulder at kcaulder@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @kelceycaulder.