Property tax bills go out

By Angie Thompson/senior reporter

TIFTON — Property tax bills that should be in the hands of taxpayers by the end of the week include the traditional homestead exemptions. Local government agencies are banking on the state to come through with reimbursements early next year.

Tift County Manager Jim Carter said Monday that he had talked with State Representative Austin Scott (R-Tifton) and that Scott believed the state would fund the credits.

“Austin emphatically stated that he sees no circumstance where the legislature will cut the tax credit from the budget,” Carter said.

Local government leaders had already set their 2008-2009 operating budgets and millage rates when word came down from Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office that the state wouldn’t fund the Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grant, estimated at $428 million for the state. Under the grant first implemented by Gov. Roy Barnes in 1999, those who qualify for the exemption get a tax break and the state reimburses a portion of the tax cut to the counties, cities and school boards in the state.

Locally, 7,212 homesteads qualify for the exemption, said Gene Goode, Tift County’s tax commissioner. The tax break amounts to approximately $221 per taxpayer who qualifies.

Goode was the first to pay his property taxes Monday, which has been his tradition since he was elected to the position 12 years ago. He said Monday that 18,000 bills represented $21,549,745.05 in taxes. The homestead exemptions in those bills amount to $825,611 for the Tift County Board of Education; $662,805 for Tift County; and $101,062 for the City of Tifton.

Included in those tax bills is a note explaining the possibility that taxpayers could be billed for the tax break later if the state money doesn’t come through.

“If the state’s financial situation continues to deteriorate and the General Assembly is unable to honor the reimbursement, counties, schools and cities will have to fund the cost of the credit out of their own budget or bill the taxpayer for a refund of the credit. If there is a shortfall, the decision as to how it might be handled will have to be made at that time. These results will be communicated to taxpayers upon any such decision,” the note partially reads.

Goode said that if the tax credit had not been included in the bills, the state’s reimbursement would not have been possible.

Carter said the county has already applied through the state for that government’s share of the reimbursement.

Carter said the county commission and Goode have often caught the brunt of criticism for tax matters and said that “in no way is the county commission or the tax commissioner responsible for the removal of the homestead exemption.”

To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.

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