The Fulton County Commission failed to pass a millage rate for property taxes after members couldn’t agree on rolling back the rate or accepting staff’s recommendation.
Staff’s recommendation was for a millage rate of 8.87 that would generate an estimated $675 million in property tax. Lower rates proposed during the meeting would cut up to $38 million in revenue.
Four commissioners need to vote for a millage rate to adopt it. With Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. absent from the meeting, no option mustered more than three votes.
Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand said if the commission failed to pass its millage rate on Wednesday they should expect a drop in the forecast for a 96 percent collection rate of property taxes. Moving the adoption out two weeks drops it to 94 or 95 percent, causing a reduction in the county’s revenue.
Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said in his time on the commission he couldn’t recall a time when they didn’t vote on the millage rate immediately. He asked his fellow commissioners to reach an agreement during the meeting.
Commissioner Bob Ellis offered multiple options for the millage rate, dropping to 8.80 for his last motion. That proposal failed when no other commissioner seconded his motion. The final rate proposed was by Pitts for the staff-recommended and advertised rate of 8.87. A 3-2 vote was not enough for approval.
The commission will reconsider the millage rate at its next scheduled meeting on Aug. 21, the earliest date while still meeting publishing deadlines for a legal notice of the meeting.
Ellis had said keeping the millage rate the same as last year at 8.87 would be a 3 percent tax increase under state law.
Earlier in the meeting, Commissioner Natalie Hall moved to set the millage rate at 8.55.
Finance Director Hakeem Oshikoya said that millage rate would cut revenue by $38 million.
County Manager Dick Anderson said the county would need significant cost containment efforts through the end of the year, including leaving vacant positions unfilled.
“I am deeply concerned about what this reduction in revenue this year and the potential budget for next year is going to do to some of these critical issues that we’re dealing with, in particular around justice and around the jail,” Commissioner Dana Barrett said. “And I think it was already tight at the flat rate, and so I can’t support going back to the rollback rate.”
Vice Chair Khadijah Abdur-Rahman said rolling back the millage rate that much would require departments to cut services.
“I will say this openly to everyone. This is not any of these commissioners’ money. This is taxpayers’ money. But we have a duty to the Fulton County citizens,” Abdur-Rahman said.
