Franklin Springs City Council to Discuss Millage Resolution

The Franklin Springs City Council plans to discuss this week whether to join Lavonia in asking the County to roll back the extra millage its citizens pay.

Mayor Lee Moore tells WLHR News he plans to have the resolution is on City Council agenda this week.

“Actually, this is something that has been discussed for several years – for the last three or four years. Myself and the previous (Royston) Mayor Jordan had talked about this. This is something we had talked about to try and get some relief for our citizens and get the millage back to where our citizens are paying the same millage rate as those in the county,” Mayor Moore said.

Earlier this month, Lavonia Mayor Courtney Umbehant said he plans to bring the resolution before the Board of Commissioners at their work session this month and he asked other municipalities to join him.

“If you’re a resident and taxpayer in Lavonia or any municipality, you’re paying one mil higher than anybody who lives outside the city limits in the County,” he explained. “And that’s what this resolution is about. It’s my intention to get on the agenda for the Commissioners’ work session at the end of the month and present this resolution to them, asking the County to equalize and treat our city residents the same as those who are not city residents.”

Mayor Moore said he met with the Franklin County Tax Commissioner to also discuss the millage disparity.

“Several years ago I met with Bobby Martin and asked him some questions and got his input on it. So, this is not something that has been done overnight or is a last-second kind of thing. And I commend (Mayor) Courtney for taking the initiative to stop kicking the can down the road and doing something about this. So, he’s the one who’s led this. I do know that Royston has passed it and Canon has passed it and Lavonia has. Franklin Springs is going to discuss it Thursday and hopefully vote on it and pass it,” Mayor Moore said.

As Moore noted, the Royston City Council voted last week at their meeting to pass the resolution.

According to the Resolution, the State of Georgia collects an insurance premium tax on property insurance policies and remits a portion of the tax revenue to each county, and requires that the revenue be used in certain ways in the State.

The Resolution points out that Franklin County uses that revenue from the insurance premium tax to rollback property taxes and property tax millage rates in the unincorporated part of the County which results in the city residents paying a higher county millage rate while receiving limited and reduplicated services.

The resolution calls the extra millage on municipal citizens an unfair burden.

City Manager Charles Cawthon said Franklin County has been using the insurance premium tax revenue to roll back property taxes for county residents since the 1970s.

And Councilman Andrew Murphy pointed out that only 25 counties out of Georgia’s 159 counties still use that method.