At a recent Athens-Clarke County Commission meeting, homeowners lined up out the City Hall chamber door to complain about their property taxes, which for many have gone up because home values are rising dramatically in Athens and around the country.
“There’s not an endless bucket of money that you can keep coming to the taxpayers for whatever wild ideas you have,” said Steve Everett, who like many of the speakers lives in Five Points, Athens’ most expensive neighborhood.
They urged the commission to cut funding for homelessness programs, bike lanes and even schools, although the ACC government has no control over school taxes or spending. “We have a spending problem, and our priorities are screwed up,” Gordon Rhoden, chair of the Athens GOP, told commissioners.
Mayor Kelly Girtz’s proposed $148 million operating budget keeps the tax rate the same at 13.1 mills, or 1.31%, but property tax revenue is expected to rise from $73 million to $87 million because the tax digest—the total value of taxable property in the county—rose about 15% last year, partially from new construction but mostly because land and buildings are worth more. The tax digest has tripled over the past 20 years to $6.7 billion.
The mayor and commission has responded with a series of small tax cuts over the past three years, and they are likely to pass another one next month. Much of the additional revenue has gone toward pay raises for county employees. Like all employers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, ACC has had a hard time recruiting and retaining employees. “I think we are in a crisis situation with our employees, with the job market changing,” Commissioner Carol Myers said at a May 18 work session.
Two commissioners, Mike Hamby and Jesse Houle, have introduced alternative budgets. Hamby’s would cut the property tax rate by 1 mill, using $1 million in unallocated funds, $3.7 million in additional property tax revenue that wasn’t anticipated when Girtz introduced his budget in April, $3 million from reserve funds, $2 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (half of it currently earmarked for programs for the homeless) and a few smaller sources. Houle’s budget includes a 0.1-mill tax cut.
“We need to recognize the sort of cumulative effect that taxes and costs have had on folks in our community,” Hamby said.
They have some areas of agreement, like freezing health care costs for county employees and pay raises for library staffers. But they differ in other areas—Hamby, for example, wants to punt on replacing aging culverts and defer some other spending until next year, while Houle’s budget includes more funding for maintenance and vehicles, and it replenishes a stormwater fund that was drained by recent flood-related projects like repairing an Olympic Drive sinkhole. Houle is also opposed to using one-time ARPA funding because that will create a hole in the budget next year.
Other commissioners have their own priorities: Patrick Davenport wants to raise tipping fees at the county landfill because it’s cheaper than others nearby, so out-of-town haulers bring trash here. Melissa Link supports more funding for community events like AthFest and the Wild Rumpus Halloween parade. Tiffany Taylor cites sidewalks, streetlights and a Black history museum as important needs. Dexter Fisher favors more funding for the Athens Tutorial Program and the Council on Aging.
Not everyone agrees that a tax cut is even necessary. Speaking at the May 16 commission meeting, Sarah Gehring, a planning commissioner and local attorney specializing in housing, pointed out that seniors’ school taxes are frozen when they turn 65, and low-income homeowners can apply for a freeze on the county portion of their taxes. “The people who would be really hurting from this tax hike have the ability to be OK, and the people who have spoken here tonight do not represent the majority of Athens,” Gehring said as the audience booed.
Link called Hamby’s proposed tax cut “a performative political gesture” that would only save the owner of a $450,000 home about $150. According to Gehring’s calculations, a senior citizen in East Athens with a home assessed at $175,000 would save just $33. Meanwhile, the Boston company that owns downtown student apartment building The William would save almost $34,000 under Hamby’s plan.
Owners of modestly valued homes are less affected thanks to a referendum last year when local voters approved Republican state Rep. Houston Gaines’ legislation raising the county’s homestead exemption for owner-occupied homes from $10,000 to $25,000. That means homeowners are paying taxes on a smaller portion of their homes’ value this year. In fact, Myers said her county taxes actually went down this year because of the higher homestead exemption, despite her home rising in value.
The higher homestead exemption does not apply to school taxes, however, which make up 60% of property tax bills. The Clarke County School District’s proposed $214 million budget keeps its tax rate the same as last year—18.8 mills. However, CCSD’s tax rate isn’t getting the same attention, with only two speakers appearing before the school board to ask for a reduction at a public hearing May 24.
“A lot of people are seeing their assessments go up because of this crazy housing market that, unfortunately, on a local level we’re unable to regulate, and they’re not necessarily going to delineate between the majority of their tax bill that goes to the school district and the approximately one-third that goes to the county,” Houle said.
Several other commissioners urged Houle and Hamby to come up with a compromise budget before a scheduled vote June 6. Houle said they’re open to a tax cut larger than 0.1 mill, but Hamby was unwilling to budge at a May 23 work session. “If Commissioner Houle agrees to one mill, I’ll be happy to work with them,” he said.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
