Floyd County Schools looking at rollback rate

The Floyd County Board of Education is mulling over dropping the property tax rate as property values are projected to go up under a preliminary tax digest.

Even if the Floyd County Schools property tax rate is dropped to a rollback rate, the system is still looking at raking in an estimated increase of $900,000 in tax revenue as part of next year’s budget, according to Chris Toles, the system’s executive director of finance. Toles based his projection on a preliminary tax digest.

The preliminary tax digest shows the first year of growth since 2007, and that is “good news for the school system,” Toles said, following the first of two public hearings on the system’s proposed Fiscal Year 2018 budget.

However, if the board of education were to keep the system’s current rate of 18.58 mills for another year, that would mean higher property taxes for property owners who had the value of their property increase, he explained.

Toles said much of the increase in tax revenue is because of the reassessment of property values, and when that happens it triggers a rollback rate, which prevents a “backdoor tax increase.”

He said the system would receive around $300,000 less by going with the rollback rate of 18.355 mills as opposed to the current rate.

But Superintendent John Jackson said going with the rollback rate shows taxpayers the system is a “good” steward of taxpayer money, adding that for some, paying property taxes is already difficult as is.

A significant portion — $442,000 — of the projected increase in property tax revenue comes from the Lowe’s Distribution Center in the North Floyd Industrial Park.

During the hearing, board member Tony Daniel told members of the Local School Coordinating Council, which includes principals, that bringing the center to Rome was part of the impact the school system has on the community.

“You feed business, and business feeds education,” he said.

The budget also includes a 2 percent raise for all employees.

Under the state budget signed by Gov. Nathan Deal earlier this month, teachers were given the 2 percent raise as part of an increase to Quality Basic Education funding. The board chose to extend that pay increase to the remaining system employees, with the system picking up the bill.

The pay raise for employees falls under the $4,046,511 in added expenditures,

which also includes a 2.54 percent increase in employer contributions to the Teacher Retirement System and changes to the supplement schedule for coaches.

The budget also reflects increases of $2,866,829 in state revenue and $175,000 in ad valorem tax revenue.

The board went into executive session following the hearing to discuss pending litigation, real estate and personnel changes, said Board Chairman Chip Hood.

The second public hearing on the budget will be June 6 at 8:30 a.m. in the boardroom at the central office, 600 Riverside Parkway. The hearing will follow the regular board meeting at 8 a.m.