County Property Tax Hike May Be Coming

May 24, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Its been four years since the property tax rate in DeKalb County was increased but another one may be coming soon.

During Tuesday night’s meeting, County Mayor Matt Adcock informed the budget committee that the county’s financial advisor Steve Bates is recommending that the tax rate be increased by almost 27 cents per $100 of assessed value (.2692) and that all the increase go into the county general fund. If approved this would amount to a total county property tax rate of $2.00 per $100 of assessed value, an increase from the current tax rate of $1.7308.

Four years ago, the county commission at that time increased the property tax rate by 29 cents per $100 of assessed value to $2.1235 but after reappraisal two years ago property assessments changed, and the county’s certified rate dropped to $1.7308 although the new rate was expected to generate about the same total amount of local revenue as the previous year.

According to County Mayor Adcock, revenues have not kept up with expenditures in recent years forcing the county to use more of its fund balance (cash reserves) to balance the budget each year. For the current fiscal year, the county general operation is expected to dip into its fund balance by up to $1.7 million dollars. According to Bates, County Mayor Adcock said a tax increase of .2692 cents would get the county general fund out of the red and into the black (at least $54,582) by the end of the 2023-24 year.

The budget committee has not yet acted. County Mayor Adcock said its up to the committee whether to accept Bates’ recommendation for a .2692 tax hike, recommend a smaller increase, or recommend no increase at all. Ultimately whatever the budget committee recommends will go to the full county commission which will make the final decision on the tax rate with passage of the budget.

County Mayor Adcock said he believes Bates’ recommendation is a good one and warned that doing nothing would risk the county ‘s financial situation getting worse going forward.

If approved as recommended by Bates, the county property tax rate would break down as follows:

County General: $1.2583, up from the current level of 0.9891 cents
Highways/Public Works: 0.0326 cents (no increase)
General Capital Projects: 0.0733 cents (no increase)
Debt Service: 0.1060 cents (no increase)
General Purpose Schools: 0.5298 cents (no increase)

Total proposed tax rate: $2.00, up from current level of $1.7308 cents

May 24, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Sheriff Patrick Ray is sounding the alarm about a growing number of accidental calls to 911 and hang-up calls. Between the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, Smithville Police Department, and Alexandria Police Department, central dispatch has logged 713 such calls since January 1, 2023.

Part of the problem, according to Sheriff Ray is due to people having smartphones and smartwatches with settings that automatically call 911 if a fall is detected.

“Since January 1, 2023 DeKalb Central Dispatch has seen a significant increase in false or abandoned 911 calls, where someone accidentally calls 911 but hangs up before anyone answers. In response to this, we are asking people who accidentally call 911 to stay on the line and to be aware of any settings on their devices that might trigger an automatic 911 call,” said Sheriff Ray.

“Every 911 call that comes into Central Dispatch is answered, but if no one is on the line, the dispatcher will call back until someone picks up which can take several minutes and take time away from responses to real emergencies,” he said. If you accidentally call 911, we ask you to stay on the line and let the dispatcher know the call was an accident. Also, a deputy is required to respond to the location of the call to make sure there is no emergency,” he added.

Sheriff Ray is also asking people to be aware of any settings on their smartphones or smartwatches that could trigger an automatic 911 call. Smart Phones and Apple Watches have factory settings where you can push a button multiple times to automatically call 911. “We have answered 911 calls where the caller had a Smartphone in their pocket while working outside and the buttons were accidently hit numerous times and called 911,” said Sheriff Ray.

There is also a “crash detection” program on SmartPhones. When the phone sustains a jar or jolt, some phones will start a countdown and then call 911. “This sometimes happens when a person drops their phone or is riding a motorcycle or lawn mower and the phone is jarred or jolted. The phone triggers the 911 call.”

“Also, we see where people try to shut down their Smartphone and accidently swipe the SOS Emergency Call button instead of powering it off,” Sheriff Ray continued.

“We are asking the public, if they use any of these emergency features on their phone, to please be aware of what can happen. 911 accidentally dialed calls take up valuable time to answer for our dispatchers and officers and there is also an expense for responding to them,” he said

The numbers of accidental 911 calls by Department since January 1, 2023 are as follows:

DeKalb Sheriff’s Department
911 Disconnected Phone Calls- 33
911 Duplicate Calls- 5
911 Hang ups- 240
911 Transfer Calls- 5
911 Wrong County Calls- 11
911 Wrong Number Calls- 138
Total Calls 432

Smithville City Police Department
911 Disconnected Phone Calls- 24
911 Hang ups- 147
911 Transfer Calls- 6
911 Wrong County Calls- 2
911 Wrong Number Calls- 83
Total Calls 262

Alexandria Police department
911 Disconnected Phone Calls- 4
911 Hang ups- 9
911 Wrong Number Calls- 6
Total Calls 19

Combined total of 713 accidental 911 calls

May 23, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Members to the DeKalb County Equalization Board were reappointed by the County Commission Monday night.

The commission reappointed Mitchell Bowman, Jimmy Midgett, Doyle Evans, Joel Hooker, and Jimmy Goad, to serve on the five-member board and Tim Bradford will be an alternate.

County equalization boards across the state are to meet each year on June 1 (or the next business day if the 1st falls on Saturday or Sunday). The county board is authorized by law to receive and hear appeals of current year property tax assessments as fixed by the county assessor of property. Generally, an assessment must be appealed to the county board of equalization to preserve the taxpayer’s right to further appeal.

The DeKalb County Board of Equalization will begin meeting on Thursday, June 1st, 2023, and will conclude on Wednesday, June 7th, 2023, for those seeking to appeal the value of their property.

To schedule an appointment with the CBOE or to have an informal appeal with Assessor of Property Shannon Cantrell, you should call the Property Assessor’s office starting today, from 8:00AM to 4:30PM Monday through Friday at (615) 597-5925.

In other business, the county commission Monday night approved several county general and board of education budget amendments and surplused property (old election voting machines) being replaced by new machines.

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