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Lee County officials ponder tax hike

• Lee commissioner says the county must either increase revenues or ct the level of services.

Susan McCord

LEESBURG — Citing a county in “financial crisis,” Lee officials made their case Tuesday for raising property taxes upwards of 2 mills.

“We have two options,” Lee Commissioner Ed Duffy said. “We can either reduce the current level of services or we can increase revenues.”

The county board of commissioners abandoned a plan May 19 to implement a $250 fee on every household for fire and emergency medical services.

Instead, at a budget work session Tuesday, the commission turned to a countywide tax increase.

An increase of 2-2.5 mills is necessary to balance the commission’s proposed budget of $21.67 million, Administrator Alan Ours said.

Lee’s funding issues are not new. Until 2006, when Ours became administrator, the county balanced its budget by overstating revenues and underestimating expenses, then dipped annually into a reserve fund for the rest, he said.

In late 2006, the commission would put in place measures to curtail spending and spare the reserve fund, and nearly achieved a balanced budget in fiscal year 2007, except for a transfer of funds required by Grand Island, the county-owned golf course, Ours said.

“I’ve been chastised numerous times for my recommendation to raise taxes,” Ours said.

But in the upcoming fiscal year, county fuel costs are up $150,000, health insurance costs are up nearly $400,000, and the Lee Utilities Authority, which carries more than $25 million in debt, will require another transfer from the county’s general fund, he said.

And revenues are down — the county can expect up to $123,000 less in zoning fees, $17,463 less in recreation fees, $145,000 less in court-imposed fines and $146,000 less in local-option sales-tax revenues, Ours said.

A full 6-percent cost-of-living increase for county staff will cost $121,328, and health insurance costs will rise $393,100 this year. A new heating and air conditioning system for the Lee County Library will cost $80,000.

Altogether, Lee County comes up $2,493,714 short, Ours said.

And contrary to what Commissioner Wally Roberts said were “false statements” in a newspaper, Lee County property taxes are about average among Georgia’s counties, Ours said. The county’s current millage rate of 26.766 is less than Dougherty County’s, where the tax rate is 37.8 mills.

The current millage rates amount to approximately $1,605 in property taxes on a $150,000 home in Lee County, and $2,272 for a home of the same value in Dougherty, Ours said.

The rate includes school taxes. The Lee County Board of Education has not announced whether its tax rates will remain at 13.75 mills. The Dougherty County schools’ tax rate is 18.45 mills.

Commission Chairman Morris Leverett said he and Commissioner Ed Duffy had analyzed the budget, line-by-line, and “couldn’t get $2 million out of it,” Leverett said.

“I’m not for closing any fire station in the county or cutting any service,” he said. “If our ambulance can’t get there, and they die, you can’t replace that person,” Leverett said.

Residents “on the outside, looking in” think Lee’s budget issues can be easily resolved by “cutting the fat,” while county departments are facing “inflationary expenses,” Duffy said. “They have no idea what it takes to balance the budget... Which fire station would close? Which EMS unit?”

Commissioner Dennis Roland, who represents northern Smithville-Chokee district, said he wasn’t opposed to the $250 fee, but Leverett disagreed.

The fees were expected to generate $2.4 million, to be used exclusively for fire and EMS.

“The millage rate is the best way to do it,” Leverett said. “I’d be paying less on the millage rate than that,” he said.

Duffy said that even across-the-board departmental budget cuts of 6 percent only generated about $240,000 in revenue.

“I can’t sleep nights, I don’t mind telling you,” he said.

Though it was a working session, the commission took a vote, and the decision to “raise taxes” passed 3-1, with Roland casting a sole “no” vote. Commissioner Jo Ealum was not present.

The commission will have to hold a public hearing before it adopts the budget, then three additional public hearings on the tax increase, Ours said.

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