THOMASVILLE — The Thomas County Board of Education tentatively adopted a $57 million budget for the current school year and also approved a rollback millage rate of 14.139 mills for 2020 to partially fund the budget.

The proposed millage rate marks the eighth consecutive year the county school board reduced school property taxes.

The 2019 millage rate of 14.2 was the 32nd lowest out of 180 school districts that can levy a tax, placing it in the bottom 18 percent of districts statewide, said Joey Holland, school system deputy superintendent for finance.

“The state average school property tax rate for 2019 was 16.23 mills. Since school districts are in the process of adopting millage rates, comparison rates for 2020 are not yet available, but the school system’s proposed roll back rate is expected to once again be among the lowest property tax rates in the state,” Holland said.

Real personal property values in the Thomas County School tax district increased 1.04 percent compared to 2019. 

Holland said that since a portion of the school’s tax digest increase was in the form of individual property reassessments, the tax rate was rolled back to yield the same amount of revenue that would have been collected had the reassessments not occurred.

About $11.3 million of local property tax revenue is included in the system’s 2020-21 budget.

“It is very important that we hold the line on property tax rates this year as so many local taxpayers have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Holland said. “We strive each year to be conservative with local taxpayer funds, but even more so in this unusual year.”

School districts in Georgia typically adopt a budget prior to the beginning of its July 1 fiscal year, but were unable to do so this year because of the delayed completion of the 2020 General Assembly session.

A significant portion of each school district’s revenue is comprised of state funding, and that funding is set each year during the annual legislative session, which was not completed until the end of June this year, Holland said.

This year’s budget includes revenues of $55.3 million and expenses of $56.9 million, resulting in a deficit budget of $1.6 million. Revenues are expected to be down 4.7 percent from the prior year, with the largest loss coming from the pandemic-driven $3.7 million state funding reduction. 

The deficit will be covered by fund reserves that totaled about $10 million at the end of the previous year.

“The budget includes $1.5 million of expenses that can be attributed to the current COVID-19 pandemic,” Holland said, “including staff salaries for teaching remote students, virtual school fees, increased funds for classroom and transportation substitutes and COVID-19 related supplies.” 

The system will receive $980,000 in federal funds from the CARES Act and will use the funds to pay salaries and avoid furlough days. 

“The additional CARES Act federal funding helps tremendously this year, but since it’s a one-year boost, we have to start thinking about how we will make up for the loss of this money next year,” Holland said.

Superintendent Dr. Lisa Williams said she is pleased the school board is able to roll back the millage rate for the eighth consecutive year.

“We consistently strive to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Williams said. “On average, school systems in the state receive 38 percent of their budget from local sources, but our school system manages to operate with local taxpayers having to contribute only 27 percent of our total revenue.”

The county school board is expected to give final approval of the millage rate at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 11, at school board administrative offices, 200 N. Pinetree Blvd. Also at the meeting, the board will consider final adoption of the school year 2020-21 budget. 

 

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820