City to set property tax rate

♦ Summerville Park residents also are slated to talk to the board about a planned Sleep Inn.

Rome City Commissioners are slated to hold a final public hearing tonight before setting the property tax rate for 2019 at the same rate as last year.

The proposed rate – $27.536 for every $1,000 of value – works out to $1,377 on a home valued at $125,000, less any exemptions.

The board also expects to hear from Summerville Park residents about the Sleep Inn planned at the edge of the neighborhood and from some East Rome Historical District property owners who want their lots removed from the district.

Commissioners caucus at 5 p.m. and start their regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall, 601 Broad St. Both sessions are public.

Results of an outside audit of the 2018 budgets are also scheduled to be presented by Matt Hill and Christopher Mckeller of Mauldin & Jenkins.

The 2019 property tax rate is broken down into 17.45 mills for the Rome City Schools system, 1.935 mills for city capital projects and 8.151 mills for the city’s maintenance and operations budget.

The city M&O rate was calculated at 13.254 mills, but the permanent 1-cent local option sales tax produced enough revenue to offset that by 5.103 mills, equal to $5.103 per $1,000 of value.

Property taxes are due by Nov. 15. A late penalty of 7.5% will be assessed on the balance due and another 5% interest fee will be levied after 120 days.

Before the property tax hearing, Eric McDowell is on the agenda to speak during the citizen comments period. Mcdowell is president of the Summerville Park Neighborhood Association.

Residents have been up in arms over

plans to build a 52-room Sleep Inn hotel at the corner of Charlton Street and Martha Berry Boulevard. The property is already zoned for commercial use but homeowners contend the 24/7 activity will encroach on their neighborhood.

The group successfully fought an application in June that would have let the hotel eliminate the requirement for sidewalks. Mcdowell said they’d hoped that would leave the developer with too little land for the project. However, plans were still underway early this month.

Commissioners directed city administrators at the last board meeting to try to arrange a meeting between the residents and developer, in an attempt to broker a compromise. Mayor Bill Collins lives in Summerville Park.

The board also is scheduled to hold a first reading on an application to remove four lots from the East Rome Historic District, at 305, 309, 211 and 315 E. Seventh Ave.

The Historical Preservation Commission is recommending against the removal.