Walker school board eyes 15% tax hike on some properties

Hike affects only properties reassessed at higher value

Some property owners will see a 15% property tax increase in 2021 if the Walker County Board of Education maintains the current tax rate.

Walker school officials propose maintaining the same millage rate of 17.404 mills as the last two years, and the school system will not take the calculated rollback to 15.132 mills. Property owners who did not see an increase in their recent reassessments will see no change in their taxes; however, property taxes will increase on properties that were reassessed at a higher

value than the previous year.

“If your assessed value in property did not change, then the school portion of your property tax will be the same as it was in 2019 and 2020,” Walker Schools Financial Services Director Rachel Elliott explained. “If the fair (market) value was assessed and increased, then the tax bill will be higher due to increased value, not increased millage rate.”

The millage rate is the amount per $1,000 used to calculate property taxes. The millage rate is multiplied by the taxable value of the property to calculate the amount of property tax owed; the homestead exemption reduces this amount. The total value of a county’s

taxable property comprises the tax digest.

Under the proposed 2021 millage, a house with a fair market value of $100,000 and a homestead exemption would be taxed at $661.35, the same as last year. A house of the same value with no homestead exemption would be taxed at $696.16, the same as last year.

The proposed tax rate hike for a home with a fair market value that has now increased to $100,000 and with a homestead exemption is roughly $86.34, according to a school system news release.

The proposed millage rate will result in a levy of nearly $23.5 million in property taxes; the amount to be

collected is roughly $2.9 million more than was levied in 2020.

The 2021-22 budget for Walker County schools includes $91.4 million in expenditures and $99.8 million in revenue and beginning fund balance. The school board adopted the budget at its July 19 meeting.