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Web posted Wednesday,
October 6, 2004
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City
Council sets millage rate - again
BEAUFORT: Week's delay still allows county
to prepare tax bills for mailing this weekend.
By Lolita Huckaby
Carolina Morning News
After
a week of indecision, the Beaufort City Council
finalized its millage rate for this year's tax
bills, clearing the way for county tax bills to go
out at the end of this week.
The council
set a 59.3 mill tax rate last Tuesday, reduced
because of reassessment from the 73.4 mills
charged in 2003. But last Wednesday, during a
special meeting held to finalize renovation plans
for the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park,
Councilman Gary Fordham proposed a further 5-mill
reduction, to 54 mills.
During a special
meeting Tuesday night, Fordham revised his
amendment again, this time, reducing the 59.3
mills by 3.5 mills, a change that nets the owner
of a median $130,000 home in the city an annual
savings of $17.76. The municipal value of one mill
is $53,508.
Fordham proposed the city use
$185,000 from its land acquisition budget to
balance the budget and offset the millage
reduction.
Mayor Bill Rauch, who proposed
last week reducing the millage rate, supported
Fordham's motion.
"To me, $185,000 is not a
small amount of money and if we can put it back in
circulation, to save the people money, I'm all for
it," he said.
Councilmembers Billy
Keyserling and Donnie Beer continued their
opposition to the reduction.
"We passed the
annual operating budget three months ago and if we
were going to juggle the numbers, that was the
time to do it," Keyserling said. "With all the
uncertainty created by the proposed reassessment
cap, now is not the time to make these
adjustments."
Beer argued that the council
declined to add more staff positions during budget
deliberations.
"The $1.48 per month we're
talking about here is not going to save anyone's
house," she said. "We need to start now to get
something on the ballot in two years that will
bring us some real tax reform."
County
Auditor Sharon Burris gave the municipality an
extra week to finalize its millage rates although
it was the last to set the rate for the upcoming
tax bills.
City Finance Director Ross Jones
planned to present the new millage rate to Burris
this morning.
Reporter Lolita Huckaby can
be reached at 524-5448 or
lolita.huckaby@lowcountrynow.com
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