Gwinnett County Seeks to Bill Taxes
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8/6/09 Gwinnett County’s 2009 millage rate and tax billing
have been tangled in the ongoing Service Delivery Strategy (SDS)
dispute with Gwinnett cities and as a result, Gwinnett County
filed a petition for a Temporary Collection Order (TCO) last
month. The TCO hearing will be held on Aug. 11 at 1:30 p.m. in
Gwinnett Superior Court. The TCO is a remedy of law for local
governments that allows the billing of property taxes to occur
without an approved tax digest from the State Revenue
Commissioner. The State Revenue Commissioner has not certified
Gwinnett’s tax digest, due primarily to the fact that the
government has not set a formal millage rate. The Gwinnett
County Board of Commissioners denied a proposed millage rate in
June after holding three public hearings on a proposed tax
increase. “The delay in tax billing negatively impacts the County, the
school system and the cities – primarily from the lack of
available resources to pay the expense of operations,” said
Commission Chairman Charles Bannister. “We (the Board of
Commissioners) were prepared to move forward in July with a
millage rate adoption that would have been revenue neutral to
the County.” This contemplated rate would have produced the same
amount of tax revenue as the County received in 2008. In
addition, the rate structure also would have been compliant with
state law in regard to the Georgia insurance premium tax
statute. However, the cities stated they would file an
injunction if the Board proceeded to adopt the millage rate.
Therefore, the County felt the best alternative was to seek a
TCO in order to move forward temporarily with 2009 tax
collections. The TCO only allows the billing of 2009 taxes based on a
temporary millage rate. Ultimately, the Board of Commissioners
must adopt the final millage rate publicly, and the tax digest
must be approved by the State Revenue Commissioner. The millage
rate contemplated in the TCO maintains the revenue neutral
status previously contemplated by the Board of Commissioners,
meaning taxes collected in 2009 will yield the same revenue as
the County received in 2008. Once a final millage rate is set by
the Board, the 2009 property taxes will be reconciled and
taxpayers will receive an adjustment. The 2009 temporary millage rate proposed in the TCO is 10.94
for taxpayers in unincorporated Gwinnett County and 12.00 for
taxpayers in incorporated Gwinnett. By comparison, the 2008
adopted county rate was 10.97. In accordance with state law, the
unincorporated taxpayers are due a rollback for insurance
premium taxes, which equates to 1.06 mills. More than 80 percent
of county citizens live in unincorporated Gwinnett. |
