MOULTRIE —
Three owners of land in the city came before Moultrie City Council during two public hearings Tuesday to complain of increases in the assessments of their properties, which they say have resulted in significantly higher property taxes.
The first hearing was at 11 a.m., and only one person showed up for it.
James Butler, of Lynn Street, said the assessment drove his property taxes from $633 in the current year to a projected $1,076 for the upcoming year.
Butler said he and his wife are retired and have lived in their house more than 20 years. It's an 1,800-square-foot frame house, he said, “one of the first built in Northeast Moultrie.” Across the street is a house that's been for sale two years, he said, and another in the neighborhood has been for sale 10 years. At least one and possibly two houses in the neighborhood have been abandoned.
In spite of that, he said, his property value increased from $45,000 to $72,000 when it was reassessed this year. He said he has appealed the assessment and will have a meeting later this month in connection with that appeal.
Butler was the only person at the meeting excluding city staff and this reporter. Two city councilmen — Angela Castellow and Cecil Barber — were at the hearing when it began. Daniel Dunn and the Rev. Ronald Wilson arrived after Butler spoke.
The full council was there for the 6 p.m. hearing when two other people made similar comments. That meeting was held immediately prior to the council’s regular meeting. Thirteen people attended, in addition to city staff and this reporter, but some were there for other items on the council’s agenda.
Laura Brooks, who with her husband bought a house on Second Street Southeast a year ago last May, said her taxes add up to $1,786.
“Maybe we’re trying to discourage people from buying in the city,” Brooks warned.
Rudolph Carroll owns several properties, many of them in the area of Rowland Drive in Northeast Moultrie. Altogether, the properties increased in value by $123,000, he said.
“We’ve got to quit fixing these properties up because we’re being penalized,” Carroll said.
The City of Moultrie plans to pass a budget Sept. 18 that will include millage rates the same as last year. However, because property values have increased, that budget is expected to increase revenues by about $238,000 over the current year.
When property value increases result in a significant increase in tax revenues, state law requires local governments to either “roll back” millage rates to bring in the same revenue, or to hold three public hearings to get input from the taxpayers. The third such hearing is set for 6 p.m. Sept. 18 at the City Council chambers in the Municipal Building.
Advertisements for the hearings read as though all city property owners will pay about 3 percent more, but City Manager Mike Scott said that wording is required by the state and isn’t accurate.
“If your assessment didn’t change, your taxes won’t change,” Scott said. “If your assessment went up, your taxes will go up.”
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