Despite the Forrest County School District seeking a half-mill increase in the FY 2018-19 budget, county taxpayers will not see an increase in ad valorem taxes.
The budget stands at $75.3M.
“We are required by law to fund whatever the school turns in, but we did not want to see a tax increase,” said Board President David Hogan. “If you look at the numbers on the average, taxpayers will be paying basically the same amount; some will pay a few dollars lower while some will pay a few dollars higher. It’s just kind of how it shook out. Taxes will remain flat in Forrest County.”
In order to offset this millage increase of .49 mills from 53.80 to 54.29, the board decided to cut the county’s general fund by half a mill rather than pass that increase on to the taxpayers of Forrest County.
A mill is defined as one-thousandth of a dollar, one-hundredth of a dime or a tenth of a cent.
“I appreciate the board that worked hard on this year’s budget, along with Chief Financial Officer Penny Steed,” Hogan said. “We went through it line item by line item and feel very good about it.”
Hogan said the board had also done a good job of managing the budget for this year to overcome some previous expenses, including the $5.4M for the Bivens lawsuit settlement.
“We’ve recovered well and moving forward with this decrease in our general fund of half a mill, we will continue to move conservatively, but with the state’s help on the infrastructure money we should be able to overcome that fairly easily.
The county is expecting to receive in excess of $800,000 annually from the infrastructure money committed by the legislature during its recent special section. “It’s mainly internet sales tax revenue,” Hogan said. “According to Joey Fillingane, the finance chairman in the Senate, those are conservative numbers, so I would say we should see a minimum of an $800,000 increase.”
In other action, the board gave a nod for the purchase of a new E-One Custom Pumper firetruck from Sunbelt Fire at a cost of $458,065 for the use by the Dixie Volunteer Fire Department.
Of the cost, $98,000 will be paid up front by the Dixie VFD in District 1 and $65,065 from a tax levy and insurance/rebate funds. Approximately $90,000 is being paid from the county’s General Fund and $90,000 from the RFTAAP grant funding leaving $115,000 to be financed over a five-year note. Hogan is also contributing $20,000 out of his Rec fund toward the new purchase.
“They will finance $95,000,” said Hogan.
