Houston sets property tax rate amid stagnant growth

The Houston County Commission made official Monday what they had promised weeks ago.

In a called meeting the board voted to keep the property tax rate at 9.95 mills. Residents in unincorporated areas pay an additional 1.18 mills to support the county fire department.

The board had said earlier they would keep the millage rate the same, but the rate couldn’t be set officially until the tax digest was completed. The digest compiles the value of taxable property in the county and calculates the amount of revenue each mill will generate.

For the third year in a row, the tax digest dropped slightly. The total digest was $3.73 billion in 2015 and this year dropped by $9.1 million.

That might seem hard to believe to Houston residents who have seen a fair amount of construction going on. Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker noted that the value of real and personal property in the digest increased by $61 million.

A significant amount of the loss, however, comes from a change in how taxes are paid on vehicles. The state shifted from a yearly collection to people paying a one-time tax when a vehicle is purchased. The digest for this year calculates a $52 million drop in the value of taxable vehicles.

Stalnaker said that number will eventually drop to zero and will no longer impact the digest growth from one year to the next.

“It makes your digest look upside down,” Stalnaker said. “What you really need to look at it is your real property and your personal property. That’s a net gain.”

Stalnaker noted that in 1990, the county’s millage rate was 8.97 mills.

“Twenty-six years later, there is less than a one-mill increase,” he said.

Houston has a mandated tax cap. Stalnaker said under that law the county could increase the tax rate by 1.37 mills and still be under the cap.

He also noted that unlike other counties, all of the 1-percent local option sales tax goes to the board of education. Other counties negotiate a split of that money between the governing bodies.

This story was originally published July 25, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Houston sets property tax rate amid stagnant growth."