February 22, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
The county budget committee will soon begin work preparing a spending plan for the 2019- 2020 fiscal year.
During an all-committees workshop of the county commission Thursday night, County Mayor Tim Stribling said budget forms have been sent out to all department administrators to be returned by February 28 with any requests they may have for the new budget year.
“After the forms have been returned we will set up some preliminary budget meetings to allow department heads to formally present their proposals to the budget committee if they wish to come in person and then we will start working on the new budget,” said Stribling.
Stribling shared with the Commissioners information on how much money the county is expected to receive from the current tax rate in the new fiscal year.
“I am required to inform the board of education, the director of schools, and the highway department by March 15 what the value of a penny is in DeKalb County,” Stribling said.
The overall tax rate is $1.8335 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
The rate is distributed as follows:
County General: 0.9635 cents
General Purpose Schools: 0.6100 cents
Debt Service: 0.1300 cents
Highways/Public Works: 0.0300 cents
General Capital Projects: 0.1000 cents
Estimated revenue from the current property tax assessments for the 2019-20 fiscal year based upon estimated assessed valuations of $493,686,000 is $49,368 per one cent of the property tax rate. However the county is actually expected to receive $46,716 per one cent of the tax rate based on a 94.75% collection rate or a 5.25% delinquency.
The estimated net collection from the overall property tax rate is $8,576,517 in local revenue to help fund the county general department, general purpose schools, debt service, highways/public works, and general capital projects.
The net estimated local property tax collection for each department is as follows:
County General: $4,506,940
General Purpose Schools: $2,853,382
Debt Service: $608,098
Highways/Public Works: $140,330
General Capital Projects: $467,757
When asked about how much more money the county highway department is receiving from increases in state fuel tax allocations due to the IMPROVE ACT adopted by the legislature two years ago, County Mayor Stribling explained that the increase in funding for the department over a three year period was projected at $555,642 including $331,351 the first year and $112,145 this year and next year. The county highway department is totally funded by state fuel tax allocations except for a local mineral severance tax and revenues from three cents of the county property tax.