{"id":17196,"date":"2016-08-25T09:05:03","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T13:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=17196"},"modified":"2016-08-25T09:05:03","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T13:05:03","slug":"millage-public-hearing-lcc-millage-2016-08-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/millage-public-hearing-lcc-millage-2016-08-23.html","title":{"rendered":"Millage Public Hearing @ LCC Millage 2016-08-23"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nPeople showed up and asked questions!\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n

\r\nFinance Director Stephanie Black said they were having public hearings\r\nbecause they were required to when raising the millage.\r\nShe said some of the reasons for the raise were a decline in the\r\nLocal Option Sales Tax revenue, “because of the TATV” a decline in motor vehicle revenues,\r\nand a decline of 1.88% or $56 million in the property tax digest.\r\nTATV appears to be Ad Valorem Title Tax, which changed with\r\n\r\nHB 386 becoming law 1 March 2013<\/a>, changing annual TATV to a one-time tax at vehicle purchase, and that new tax goes to the state, not the local government.\r\nAs you can see in the Millage History slide pictured, they did\r\n\r\n decrease\r\nthe millage last year, as I deduced<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nThe effect on typical house values, she said, would be $40 to $87 per year.\r\n

\r\nJerry Arnold of Boyette Road, Hahira, \r\nwanted to know if the title tax decrease was permanent.\r\nAnswer from Chairman Bill Slaughter: yes.\r\nArnold wanted to know if there was anything to replace that,\r\nso property owners wouldn’t have to pick up the difference.\r\nAnswer: they don’t really know, but they’re going to ask the state\r\nlegislators to come up with something.\r\n

\r\nChairman said “Mr. Griner’s got a good bit more background in it than that.”\r\nCommissioner Clay Griner, whose family owns an automobile dealership,\r\nsaid the legislature has the ability to further change TATV and he hopes they will.\r\nArnold wanted to know if the county had already talked to the legislature.\r\nAnswer from Griner: yes, and it’s not just this county.\r\nArnold wanted to know whether property taxes would go up 10% each year\r\nbecause of TATV.\r\nGriner said he didn’t think that would happen.\r\n

\r\nFred Blanton of Otter Creek Road\r\nsaid he was concerned about “the waste in the county”\r\nfor which he gave an example of one man in a Ford F-250 truck\r\nspraying around signs,\r\nand what he thought was unnecessary resurfacing on Howell Road,\r\nas well as too many curve signs.\r\nChairman praised leadership of County Manager Joe Pritchard on saving money\r\nand speculated there might be regulations that required so many signs.\r\nCounty Engineer Mike Fletcher said they got a safety action plan grant\r\nthat updated the existing signs, and once those were up, they would\r\ntake down the old signs.\r\nCommisioner Mark Wisenbaker agreed the new signs were bright at night,\r\nbut “give them a little time when they’ve got some dirt on them.”\r\n

\r\nThis was the third and last millage public hearing,\r\nafter which the Commission held its\r\nRegular Session in which it approved the millage.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nHere’s\r\n\r\na video playlist:<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

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