The Fulton County Commission will decide Wednesday whether to raise the property tax rate 5 percent, a proposal that has drawn heavy criticism from residents.
While various city and school taxes have gone up over the years, it would be the county government's first increase since 1991. Since floating the idea last month, commissioners have been barraged with e-mails in opposition.
"Things are tough all over, but more taxes are NOT the answer," Atlanta resident Steve Dwiggins wrote. "Do you want to force me to move out of the county?"
Chairman John Eaves said he won't support an increase, and he doubts it will get the needed four votes.
"I'm convinced that we can continue to hold the line, in terms of our millage rate staying the same," he said.
Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties have all raised their tax rates in the wake of the real estate collapse, by margins ranging from 16 to 26 percent. But since 1996, Fulton's rate declined from 14.01 mills to the current 10.281 mills — which is about $720 on a $250,000 home with a homestead exemption.
The proposed 0.51-mill increase would translate to an extra $36 in tax on that same house.
Fulton taxes pay for such countywide services as courts, the jail, arts programs, health services, libraries and senior centers. But a hike of any kind is a hard sell.
Taxpayer advocates regularly accuse the county of setting property assessments too high. Republican state lawmakers, accusing the county of overseeing a bloated budget that doesn't reflect it has direct governance over fewer than 10 percent of its residents, have vowed to force reductions starting in next year's legislative session.
North Fulton Commissioner Liz Hausmann said many of her constituents saw their homes' assessed values go up this year, so they'll already be paying more in taxes. She's been inundated with calls and e-mails railing against the proposed higher rate.
"I think that a lot of it is because 90 percent of the county is municipalized," said Hausmann, who will cast a firm no vote, "and people think they get the majority of their services from the cities they live in."
The county's tax digest shrunk more than expected this year, and the new rate would generate an estimated $17 million, County Manager Zachary Williams told commissioners last month. Even with the higher rate, he said, commissioners would still have to find another $30 million in cuts.
Williams has said alternatives to a tax increase could include reducing library hours, cuts to arts centers and social services, slashing Grady Memorial Hospital funding and scaling back drug and DUI alternative courts.
Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation Executive Director Barbara Payne said she doesn't buy it.
"If you let them get away with just a little bit now," she said , "there's nothing to stop them from coming back and taking more later."
Commissioners meet at 10 a.m. in the Fulton County Government Center's Assembly Hall, 141 Pryor St., S.W., downtown Atlanta. The vote will follow the only public hearing on the possible increase.
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