Tax vote on agenda

Schools will ask county for money

Published Saturday, February 6, 2010

The Andalusia Board of Education will ask the Covington County Commission to implement a 3 mill tax Monday, a move the city superintendent said will save jobs and programs.

By law, county commissioners are required to determine property tax rates at their first meeting in February. City BOE members hope this year the commission will include 3 mills they believe should have been imposed following the passage of Amendment 2 in 2006.

At its Jan. 26 meeting, school board members received an opinion from Mark Christensen, who is the city attorney. He and Mayor Earl Johnson previously had agreed to work with the board in an effort to resolve a question over local funding.

In the opinion, Christensen said he agreed with the board’s position that the 2006 constitutional amendment requiring a minimum of 10 mills of unrestricted local funding should have netted an additional 3 mills for the local system. Christensen’s letter stated it was vital the board make its request for the additional 3 mills immediately since by law, the commission must compute and determine the millage collection rates for each school district within the county at Monday’s meeting.

ACS Superintendent Beverly McAnulty said the additional three mills would mean approximately $300,000 annually for the city schools.

Because the tax hasn’t been implemented, the system has lost at least four years of the additional revenue, or $1.2 million by the end of the current budget year.

With current economic times and the state cutting back, McAnulty said the city schools will definitely see some cuts in staffing and programs in the 2012 budget year and the extra 3 mills could help the system.

However, she would not comment on what the cuts would be.

“We are not going to be able to budget the money, but we will certainly be able to use the money,” she said.

“It will certainly help us address things that come up.”

McAnulty said that since this money would not be earmarked, it could be used for operational expenses.

“We can use it for whatever there is a need,” she said.

If the commission approves the additional three mills, homeowners would see a $3 increase per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Property taxes are assessed at 10 percent of appraised property values. For example, a home that is appraised at $50,000 would be assessed at $5,000.

Under the current millage rate, the homeowner would pay $195 in property taxes each year, but with the additional 3 mills it would cost the homeowner $15 more, or $210.

Businesses and rental properties are assessed at 20 percent of appraised property values.

So business property that appraised at $50,000 would be assessed at $10,000. An 3 mill increase would mean $30 more per year.

In his opinion, Christensen told board members they should seek a declaratory judgment in court if the 3 mills aren’t assessed this year.

McAnulty said that’s a decision the board will have to make if the commission fails to increase the ad valorem tax within the city.

“This is not anything personal against the commissioners, but we feel we are due the 3 mills,” McAnulty said.

“When this was first voted on, we were one of the 30 schools that were on the list initially. We have been working on this for two and a half years. It’s really not against the commission per say; it’s trying to resolve the issue.”

McAnulty said the problem lies with the information provided to commissioners by the state departments of education and revenue.

When campaign literature was compiled in support of the amendment in 2006, Andalusia was listed among the “underfunded” systems which would benefit from the amendment’s passage.

However, after the amendment passed, Andalusia was not included among the systems the departments listed to receive an increase.