Hart County Sets 2010 Millage Rate

Hart County’s Board of Commissioners has approved the millage rate for 2010.

At their regular meeting last week, the board of commissioners approved a 2010 rate of 4.762 mils.  County administrator Jon Caime said the 2010 assessment will now be sent to the State Department of Revenue for approval.

“Once they give us their nod that they’re comfortable with it for final billing, then we’ll go ahead and set the 2011 millage,” Caime said. “Upon receiving approval from the Department of Revenue for approval of the 2011 millage, we can finally catch up on billing for 2009, 2010, and 2011, but we’ll still have to set a 2012 millage.”

Caime noted Hart County still has the lowest millage rate in the State of Georgia for county operations.  The board also approved the rollback resolution to the 4.762 rate from 6.961 mils.

“That is actually rolled back by the LOST (local option sales tax) sales tax to get to where we’re at right now, which is 4.762,” Caime told the board.

Hart County has been working for the past four years on a property revalution mandated by the Georgia Department of Revenue.  In 2008, the county entered into a consent order with the state to update their revaluation process or risk stiff fines. However, the revaluation process will mean huge jumps in property tax bills for some property owners.

“We need to start getting the word out so people know about the timing of some of these bills because there are some people out there who will see some big increases (in their tax bills) and they need to start preparing,” Commissioner Joey Dorsey said.

Dorsey also noted that some taxpayers will actually get refunds from overpayments.  Caime said the county hopes to send out tax bills for 2009 and 2010 in May.

The Hart County Tax Assessor Board recently told the commission they expect to have the county up to date by the end of the county’s fiscal year in September.