Tough times are not over yet in Cobb County.
Cobb’s 2011 tax digest declined about 5.5 percent from 2010 -- less than expected, but still a sign of the wobbly recovery and reduced property values.
All 11 of Cobb’s taxing authorities — including the county, its six cities, the school system and two commercial business districts — reported digest declines. Powder Springs and Austell, with 7.9 percent and 8.2 percent drops, respectively, posted the largest declines among the cities; Cumberland Community Improvement District, the self-taxing business district, saw the greatest overall decrease of 9.4 percent.
Officials use the tax digest — made up primarily of the value of homes and commercial buildings — to estimate revenue and determine budgets. Cobb has reduced assessments on thousands of properties over the past three years, including about 88,000 residential properties this year, which affected the digest. Also denting the digest were new state laws requiring assessors to consider bank sales in determining property values and limiting any increase in property values.
This is the second year the digest has declined throughout the county, but the decline is less than last year’s, and officials are encouraged by the progress. For taxpayers, the digest decline still means tight city and county budgets and some service reductions, but probably not tax increases.
“I think we anticipated about that much,” said Austell Mayor Joe Jerkins, about his city’s digest decline.
Austell’s digest fell about $16 million from 2010. But that was less than the 18 percent tumble a year earlier, in part because of the 2009 flood. Jerkins attributes much of this year’s decline to the housing market and foreclosures.
“We cut our budget a half-million dollars this year,” he said. “So far we haven’t had to reduce services, but we’ll have to wait and see whether the economy will get better.”
The county’s $1.7 billion digest decline, to $29.7 billion was originally anticipated at 7 percent, which would have equaled last year’s decline.
“For [the current budget] this means we won’t have to go into reserves as much [to balance the budget],” said Tim Lee, Cobb’s Commission Chairman. “At least in Cobb, things are starting to stabilize.”
Despite the better numbers, Cobb still faces a $15 million budget deficit going into its next fiscal year in October. Lee and most of his commission colleagues have opposed a tax increase, choosing instead to balance the past few budgets with a mix of fee increases, employee furloughs and service cuts.
“We’re hearing that there will not be a general market rebound until about 2013,” said Malaika Rivers, executive director of the Cumberland CID, whose digest declined about $115 million to $1.1 billion. “There is some good news in certain projects that are likely to move forward, but everybody is still weathering the storm, and hopefully getting close to the end.”
Commissioners will use the tax digest data to set the millage rate for 2011 before tax bills are mailed around Aug. 15. The county is scheduled to adopt its 2012 budget in September.
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