Franklin BOC Discusses Millage Rate Options

The proposed millage rate for Franklin County residents and property owners could change.

At their regular meeting Monday evening, the Board of Commissioners discussed several options for the 2021 millage rate.

Currently, the County is advertising the same rate as last year but it includes a property tax increase.

The proposed 2021 millage rate being advertised for unincorporated Franklin County is 10.553 mills and 11.700 mills for municipalities.

That’s an increase of .290 mills for unincorporated Franklin County and .556 mills for municipalities.

The proposed millage rates will require a property tax increase of 4.31%.

Monday evening, County Commission Chair Jason Macomson called for a public discussion among the board members as to whether the millage should be rolled back.

In addition to what is being advertised, County Manager Derrick Turner has developed two other options for the Board to consider.

The second option would be to reduce the rollback rate, which would eliminate the tax increase.

The third option would be to reduce the millage rate by 1/4 mill beyond the rollback rate, which is what the County did last year.

Macomson recommended the third option, noting the county is doing well financially and more subdivisions are going up.

For many years, Franklin County has either increased the millage rate outright or, more commonly, we have accepted any inflationary increase and just left the millage rate alone,” he recalled. “In the last five years or more the County has done very well financially and I think we’re in a  position to show good faith and reduce taxes again… I think it’s reasonable we reduce the millage rate by a quarter mill again. I’m not saying we should do that every year but we ought to give it consideration. A marginal cut is modest, it’s reasonable. It provides citizens with immediate tax relief and we can afford to do so without, I think, imperiling the budget.”

The Chairman also pointed to the residential growth in the County with a number of new subdivisions going in that will attract new residents and broaden the property tax base.

Commissioner Ryan Swails, recommended erring on the side of caution, pointing out that the residential growth in the county is not beneficial if there’s no commercial growth along with it.

“So right now we are seeing a lot of residential growth but we’re not seeing the commercial side grow that much,” he pointed out. “Which means that we may or may not be in a situation where if we’ve made these cuts and yeah, the digest is growing, but what if it doesn’t grow? We may find ourselves in a position like the school system is dealing with now where they made a couple mill cutbacks and now they’re in a situation where they have to make some hard decisions about tax increases… I think we need to take all of this into consideration before we make a substantial change.”

Swails reminded the Board of the vision and goals set forth at their retreat and said changing taxes is not a vision unless it has a purpose.

Swails said the County should not look at how well it’s doing now but prepare for future unforeseen events such as another recession.

Commissioner Eddie Wester recalled the time when the Board had to raise taxes because the county was in the red with no reserve fund.

That’s why he believes there’s enough in the reserve fund now to allow for the County to give something back to the property owners.

“I think we put too much of the burden on our property owners. It’s the easy way out. Roughly only half of the population in our county owns property. So, we’re expecting half of our population to cover everything in this county and I just don’t think that’s fair,” he said. “I say all of that to say that I’m not in favor of accepting the current rate. I’m in favor of at least rolling it back the 4% to cover the inflationary growth.”

Commissioner Robert Franklin said the County needs to make sure there’s enough money in the coffers to start paving the county’s dirt roads again, and the current proposed millage rate with the property tax increase should remain.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve paved roads. We need to do something with roads and bridges… I understand. I pay taxes too but for me, I’d like to leave it like it is,” Franklin said.

And commissioner Kyle Foster also expressed concern about the future economy and making sure the County has enough money for roads and other infrastructure.

“I’m all for paying lower taxes but I just want to make sure we take care of our people, take care of our roads and we don’t get into a spot where we have to raise taxes again,” Foster said. “I’m all for lowering taxes but I just don’t want to put us in a bad spot where we have to do that.”

A second public hearing on the millage rate will take place this Thursday evening at 6p at the Justice Center in Carnesville.