Snellville Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer said Friday that he will vote to lower the city’s property tax millage rate, a reversal of his position during the City Council meeting Monday.
Oberholtzer’s turnabout means Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Bender now has enough votes to break a deadlock and get approval for her proposed rate of 5.7 mills, which drew objections from two council members, Kelly Kautz and Mike Sabbagh.
"I want us to be together on things, and I don’t want to have controversy," said Oberholtzer, who's earned a reputation for being a dogged fighter in his eight years in office. With only a few months left in his final term, Oberholtzer said he wanted to end things on a positive note.
The council will reconsider the millage rate Aug. 1.
Because of the earlier impasse, Gwinnett County tax officials agreed to extend the deadline to add Snellville's property tax bill to the county's annual bill. City officials now must settle on a new millage rate by Aug. 2 or risk having to pay to send out their own tax bills.
City Manager Russell Treadway initially recommended increasing the millage rate to 6.19, telling the council that many residents still would see lower tax bills because of lowered property values throughout the city.
But Bender made a motion to approve a rate of 5.7 mills. Bender said the council should give residents a break on taxes instead of sitting on an unusually high surplus of revenue.
On a house valued at $200,000, the difference in the tax bill, not counting homestead exemptions and other reductions, would be $39.20.
Bender's motion failed, with Kautz, Sabbagh and Oberholtzer voting against it. Kautz then motioned to keep the rate at 5.9 mills, which also resulted in a split vote.
Now with Oberholtzer willing to support Bender's measure, Kautz said Friday that she will propose an amendment to the 2012 budget asking for more cuts. Treadway has told the council that lowering the rate to 5.7 mills would create a deficit of about $128,000.
Kautz, who accused Bender of playing politics by supporting a lower tax rate, wants at least that much in cuts.
"If they don’t support that," she said, "that will show that it was all a political ploy."
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