<< Back 6/5/02 Tax revenue questions dominate budget talks By Scott McLeod If ever a county was dealing with a budget quagmire, it may be Haywood County this year. That fact has commissioners at odds over how to meet needs. Like all local governments, it is having to deal with uncertainty in state revenues. In addition, a real estate property revaluation hit the books this year, and higher values generate appeals which make it hard for county officials to estimate property tax revenues. On top of that, the county will borrow about $23 million to begin a justice center and parking deck, but it doesn’t know exactly when the loan will be taken out or what the interest rate will be. “Yeah, I’d say this is a pretty complicated budget year,” said County Manager Jack Horton after commissioners spent a morning looking over the 139-page, $52 million proposed spending plan. Commissioners didn’t do any hard cutting at the work session on June 3, but several points were made that reveal which direction this year’s budget — and perhaps some in the future — may take. The budget was based on the current 61 cents per $100 tax rate. However, the property revaluation has pushed the total amount of taxable property in the county up by about 21 percent, from $3.3 billion to $4 billion. Most residents, though, say their values have gone up anywhere from 50 to 60 percent, meaning that industrial, personal property, and motor vehicles values likely did not go up as much. Property taxes usually drop after a revaluation, and commissioners Mary Ann Enloe and Wade Francis — both running for re-election in November — said they would not vote to keep the tax rate at the 61-cent level. “No, I'll not vote for 61 cents,” said Francis after the meeting. Enloe said the same during the meeting, but she also expressed support for additional school spending. “I’m in favor of funding additional supplements to bring it up to the 2 percent level for all certified personnel,” said Enloe, who also said she favored adding $113,000 to the school budget for the first installment on their 10-year improvement plan. Those two would add about $220,000 to the school budget recommendation. To come up with that money and still cut the tax rate, Enloe is counting on conservative estimates of taxable property. She thinks when all appeals are in, the county will have more than the $4 billion in taxable property estimated by Horton. “I’m saying that $4 billion may be severely underestimating. If so, that could make a big difference in our estimations,” said Enloe. Horton agreed that the $4 billion figure is an estimate based on senior citizens exemptions on real estate taxes, appeals of new values, land-use exemptions and other factors. He said he would sit down with the tax assessor and try to get more detailed information and determine if that value is higher. Commissioner Carlyle Ferguson and Chairman Jim Stevens, though, said education spending shortfalls could be eased by raising the tax rate one cent, which would bring in $400,000 and allow the county to meet the request from the school board. However, both said they would be reluctant to do that unless the entire board supported it, and Enloe and Francis said they would not vote for the increase. “I’m not going to vote to raise taxes to help the schools, and then some of you don’t do it and we take the blame for raising taxes,” said Stevens. Horton told the board one possible revenue source the state legislature is considering is moving forward by one year — to July 1, 2002 — the date counties could start collecting the additional 1/2-cent sales. Haywood would get $2.5 million from that tax, which is more than it gets from the reimbursements. In other budget discussions: ° Haywood County’s recycling program lost $137,000 last year and is estimated to lose another $120,000 this year. In total, Horton said solid waste and recycling cost about $600,000 per year over revenues. The total solid waste budget is $2.08 million. “But it does us some some good,” said Stevens. “It keeps trash out of the landfill and saves trees.” ° Haywood Community College requested $1.54 million for capital projects, but the county budget recommends only $500,000. Commissioners all said the college was a great asset to the county, and they promised to develop a future plan for meeting the school’s capital needs. “That is such a valuable resource. We need to get them on a program to help them with capital outlay,” said Stevens. ° Commissioners floated the idea of tapping into the $648,000 per year collected from room tax revenues that is used to promote tourism in the county. “That figure is getting up there. Is there any way we can introduce a bill to tap into that?” asked Bill Noland. Horton said that would require special legislation, but he said some counties do use room tax money for budget items other than tourism. “We need to run that up the flagpole and see,” said Enloe. Commissioners must adopt a budget by June 30, and so far they have not set a date for a public hearing.