County Commissioner's Office

County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner

Q. Why does the county budget increase more than the cost of living?
A. Most years it is actually at or very near the cost of living increase.  In fact, the tax rate is slightly decreasing this year, even though we will receive $265,453 more in revenue. That new money will not come from existing property owners, but from new homes and new subdivision lots (growth).  However, as an indication of the cost of operating government, just the 4% employee raises this year will cost $241,840, which will consume almost all of the new revenue.  So we will have to operate the county government with practically the same cost as last year, which will be very difficult, but must be done.

Q. Why doesn’t the county have enough new tax revenue from the new homes being built?
A. When people see all the new homes in this county, their first thought is that we must have plenty of tax money.  In fact, when I was elected, that is what I thought.  However, was I disappointed when I saw that it took almost all of the new tax money just to pay for employee cost increases each year, not counting other expense increases. 

Q. How much does a home have to cost for the county to “break even” on taxes?
A. From a University of Georgia study we had performed a few years ago, we found out that the cost of providing services to our citizens required a new house to cost around
$ 480,000 for the taxes to break even.  In other words, 95% of the new homes and population is costing the county more in services than we receive in tax money. That is based on the total county budget including schools.  That is why any growing community usually has an increase of their taxes unless they have enough commercial and industry to make up for the difference. Without this increase in commercial and industrial property, the increased cost of operating most governments falls on the homeowners and property owners.  Fortunately, in Union County, because of past and current conservative financial management, both our school system and county government enjoy some of the lowest tax rates in the state of Georgia.  And if you will follow the budget increases over the years, you will see the same trend basically state wide.  It is simple – more growth brings more cost, unless we can attract more industry and business into the mix.

Q. What services are you referring to when you say their cost is increasing?
A. As we grow, we need more deputies, more firemen, more health insurance, more jail space, more asst. district attorneys and public defenders and judges. More library and school space, more and wider roads, more ambulances, more hospital and nursing home beds and the list goes on and on.  For members of the public to think that adequate services can be provided with no increased cost to the community is simply not possible if we are to maintain a decent quality of life. As good as growth is in many areas, it also has its downfalls, and one is cost.

Q.  How could we keep our taxes down?
A.  If Union County did not grow any more, with no more new homes or people moving in, then we would probably not need to raise taxes again because the cost  of operating government would be about the same each year, other than an inflation figure. However, many of those now living here would have to leave because they could not make a living. Most if not all of our youth would have to leave the county to find work. The majority of income derived in this area comes from tourism and the tourism industry including real estate and home construction. So there is no easy solution to any of these issues.

In the next few weeks I will do a series of questions and answers regarding the proposed new sales tax to replace property tax.  It is a very interesting concept, but requires careful understanding of both sides of the issue.

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