The Thomasville City Council announces its intention to propose a property tax for residents for the first time since 2012. According to City Manager Alan Carson, the introduction of a property tax is something that will provide financial stability for the community. Thomasville’s current millage rate is 0 mills; the proposed millage rate to be considered by the Thomasville City Council is 5.000 mills.
“A property tax traditionally supports a City’s General Fund, so since 2012, the City of Thomasville has relied on utilities funds to support the General Fund, and that has primarily been our Electric Fund,” noted Carson. “Many in our community believe that because we collect taxes on behalf of the Thomasville City School System we keep a portion of those funds, but that is not the case. Our organization has been operating for several years solely on revenue from our utilities, and all monies collected from the school tax are transferred to the Thomasville City School System each year.”
The City of Thomasville began the elimination of property taxes in 1998, with the final tax – a fire tax – eliminated in 2012. “Since that time, we have not levied any property taxes for city governmental services,” said Carson. “Unfortunately, this has left our General Fund without a funding source outside of transfers from our Electric Fund, and that is something that we must correct in order to provide the services that our community expects from the City of Thomasville.”
Carson said that after careful consideration, the Thomasville City Council will propose a millage rate of 5.000 mills to help with long-term funding. “This is a very low millage rate in comparison to other communities our size,” noted Carson. “If the fair market value of your home is $150,000, the proposed tax would be $300.”
Carson noted that implementing this property tax, while difficult, will help to ensure the future financial stability of the City of Thomasville. “When Thomasville’s property tax was eliminated in 2012, the goal of the City Council and administration in place at that time was to support government operations with utility revenues,” said Carson. “Unfortunately, these rates have not consistently been adjusted to reflect the cost to deliver services, so that is something that has, in turn, restricted the ability of some of our utility funds to support these transfers to our General Fund. It has also impacted the ability of our utility funds to adequately fund capital improvements.”
The decision to raise utility rates is a complex decision that each City Council must carefully consider each year. “It is not an easy decision to raise the rates that our customers must pay for our utilities, so I understand the reasons why this is not always implemented each year,” Carson said. “In recent years, our community has struggled with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and a higher overall cost of goods and services.”
“The question must be asked whether our customers can bear utility adjustments on top of a more difficult economy,” said Carson. “At this point, I do not believe our customers could or should pay the rates that we would need to offer to continue funding the types of governmental services that a property tax traditionally supports.”
Nearly 70% of Thomasville’s General Fund is designated for Public Safety expenses. Additional General Fund expenditures are directed toward Highways and Streets, General Administration, and Economic Development. “There is no question as to how important Public Safety is to our community, but it is an expense to our community that currently does not have a designated funding source and is instead provided for with revenue from our Electric Fund,” said Carson.
Carson noted that requests are also frequently received from citizens about streets that need paving or parks that they would like to see improved. “Most of these types of expenses are typically funded by a property tax, which we do not have. This leaves a void in the desires of what our citizens want and value and our ability to provide for it,” Carson said. “The property tax will help to close this gap and allow us to stabilize the General Fund, which in turn provides for the types of amenities and services that make our community the Thomasville we all know and love.”
Large, capital projects including water and sewer infrastructure improvements, street resurfacing, and stormwater improvements all do not have a long-term funding source and are instead typically funded by Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) or other revenue streams such as grants, federal allocations such as ARPA, and revenues from utilities funds; however, additional resources are necessary as long-term projects are developed.
“Since there is no property tax to help support the General Fund, we do not have long term resources to support infrastructure improvements,” stated Carson. “Our community has spent a great deal of time investing in various studies and master plans, include a parks study, stormwater master plan, and streetscape visioning sessions. Unfortunately, we are limited on implementation of these projects, as we cannot continue to rely on our Electric Fund as the primary funding source of these long-term projects.”
Carson said that Council and City leadership have worked together over the last several years to develop policies and strategies to help strengthen the City’s overall financial planning initiatives in the coming years. “Those initiatives include hiring financial advisors experienced in governmental entities such as ours to help prioritize capital projects and potential debt financing needs. Financial policies, investment policies, and purchasing policies have been established to steward the city’s resources more efficiently.”
“Our intention is to follow the guidance of the State of Georgia, and together, make this change for our community with the re-implementation of a property tax,” said Carson. “This is a very big change for our Council and our staff, as none of us were in our current positions when we last levied a property tax. We also realize this is a change for our citizens and important that we make them aware of the public meetings that will be held on this important matter.”
Citizens are encouraged to attend the public hearings on August 9, 2023, August 23, 2023, and September 6, 2023. All meetings will be held at 6 pm at the Thomasville Municipal Building, 144 East Jackson Street, Thomasville, Georgia.