Paulding BoC to hear from the public, then vote on the FY20 budget

Paulding County commissioners were set to hear from the public for the final time this week, prior to taking a vote on a proposed property tax increase for their 2020 budget after cutting millions from the chairman’s original spending plan.
A public hearing on the increase and 2020 budget was set for Tuesday, Aug. 13, at 9 a.m. at the Watson Government Complex at 240 Constitution Blvd. in Dallas.
County Finance Director Tabitha Pollard was expected to explain the revised plan to commissioners Tuesday during their 10 a.m. work session, which followed the 9 a.m. public hearing.
Pollard said, at the commissioners’ urging, she has worked with department heads to cut almost $8.8 million from Carmichael‘s original June 1 budget and reduce the originally proposed 6.50-mill property tax rate.
At 2 p.m., during their voting session, commissioners were expected to vote on the 2020 budget and property tax rate.
Commissioners have been considering a revised 2020 spending plan 4% smaller than Chairman Dave Carmichael’s original budget, submitted on June 1st.
The revised budget was made public last week and totals $196.4 million, up 4% from the 2019 budget of $187.4 million.
The revised budget includes a proposed property tax rate of 6.079 mills for the 2020 General Fund, which is the same rate used in the 2019 budget.
However, the revised 6.079-mill property tax rate is still 7% above the rollback rate of 5.653 mills. The rollback is required to calculate to produce the same amount of property tax revenue as the previous year.
The overall county government budget does not fund the Paulding County School District. Under the revised plan, the number of new, full-time positions decreases to 45 and a proposed pay increase for all employees reduces from 5% to 4%, according to Pollard.
In addition to the General Fund, the county budget includes a separate fund used to pay off bonded indebtedness and interest. A separate property tax rate is used for the bond fund and is proposed at 2.20 mills, up from 2.07 mills in 2019 and is aimed at paying back the bond debt for the new county sheriff’s office and jail complex, the revised document stated.
A proposed property tax rate of 3.1 mills for a separate fund for the county fire department is unchanged from 2019. Paulding’s tax digest this year was 9% higher than the previous year as property values increased for the seventh consecutive year, according to a history of the annual calculation.
The tax digest is the total of all assessed values of taxable property inside the county. Information on the budget online is at www.paulding.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8958/Aug-5-Revision.