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Taxes higher despite lower millage rates Most property taxpayers in Wilkes County will be paying higher taxes this year thanks to higher assessments on a large portion of the properties in the county. While tax millage rates are actually lower than last year, the county's total budget is nearly half a million higher than last year and the school system's budget is more than $300,000 over last year even after plans for a new school building were put on hold. The final, grand total millage is 24.332 in the incorporated areas of the county and 23.800 in the unincorporated areas, putting the total tax levy for 2006 at $7,851,015. Of that, $2,965,439 is for the county, $4,803,280 is for the schools, and $82,296 is mandated by the state. In 2005, the county total was $2,497,390 and the school system was $4,475.760. But while the rates are lower, substantial revaluations will drive tax bills up for many taxpayers although not for others. Some properties, mainly those in excess of 30 acres, were not revalued this year and so, for those taxpayers, taxes will actually be lower. The rest will pay higher taxes because the lower millage rates are only slight and don't come close to offsetting the higher assessments. It's not the higher taxes or even the higher assessments that has residents upset. It is the fact that the revaluation was applied to only part of the county. A group of those residents voiced their concerns at last Thursday's hearing just before the county officially adopted the millage rate. "Partial assessment is unfair," was the contention of those in attendance as voiced by property and business owner Wayne Madden. "A whole lot more of this property should have been revalued so that more people could bear the burden of these taxes," he said. County Commission Chairman Sam Moore pointed out that the commissioners by law "have nothing to do with the assessing of property." He explained that the tax assessor's office is in charge of that and the commissioners are not allowed to change assessments. However, members of the tax assessors board are appointed by the county. Nevertheless, Madden pressed on. He was qualified to speak to the issue because he owns a number of properties for which values were increased as well as some that were not. "I'm not saying that you shouldn't have raised some of my tracts," he continued, "I'm saying you should have raised them all. And you should have raised everybody else's too." There was an indication that this year's was only a partial revaluation and that remaining properties would be reassessed as well in the future. Moore reiterated that the process and duty fell to the assessor's office and not the commissioners. Concerning the increase in the county budget, Moore explained that "our costs of running the government have gone up just like everybody's cost of living has gone up. But if you compare us to comparable surrounding counties, our taxes are still lower and we even provide some services they don't." Moore pointed out that the county is working to cut costs wherever possible and cited a retiring truck driver as an example. He said the position will not be refilled. "We run the county as economically as we can," Moore said. "We have a budget that we feel is a good budget with which we can run the county efficiently."
Several others spoke during the hearing and were generally concerned with the perceived inequities in property revaluation. Visitors seemed less concerned with budgetary increases, understanding that costs have risen.
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