School board members unanimously approved a $42.2 million general fund budget and 15.97millage rate Thursday evening, following two public hearings where a handful of taxpayers showed up to request the board tighten spending while so many people are out of jobs or underemployed.
With property owners facing increased taxes from both the county and school system, a small group attended Thursday’s public hearings on the tax increase, telling the sole board member who showed up for the morning session that the board should consider that the people they are raising taxes on are having a hard time themselves making ends meet.
“Y’all say your budget ran short, so you just come to the people of the county for more money,” said Jason Goforth. “I’m a businessman myself, and if my budget runs short, I don’t have anyone to run to. If I am cutting my budget to survive, y’all need to cut yours.”
The board approved a 15.97 millage rate and gave final approval to the FY10 budget, which will levy over $23 million in local property taxes. Board Chairman John Trammell and Superintendent Mike Ballew said an overwhelming portion of the school system’s budget is mandated by the state and federal government, and over 86 percent of the general fund budget goes toward salaries and benefits for teachers and other staff.
“The millage rate now is about the same as it was five years ago,” Ballew said. “In the last year the school system has received $1.47 million in state cuts and we were $1.3 million short on tax collections this year, so basically the budget has lost about $3 million. That’s the main reason for the slight increase this time. With that $3 million cut, we really had no choice. To run the schools, we had to have an increase on the millage rate.”
Goforth asked if property owners couldn’t pay the $1.3 million from last year, how would they be able to pay more now? Trammell said ultimately if taxes aren’t paid, the county could sell the property on the courthouse steps.
“People will lose everything they’ve worked for for 20 years?” Goforth asked.
Several in attendance said increasing taxes during these hard economic times will be like trying to get juice from a turnip.
“This super boom we’ve had has been building for 20 years, and it may take 20 more for those good times to return,” said Joey Roland, owner of two local businesses, Discount Tire and J&J Grading. “My business was reassessed in 2008 during that peak time, and now those values shouldn’t stay the same.
I don’t see any catalyst for this economy to turn around in the next 10-20 months. It took us 20 years to get to this point. We’ve all expanded our credit and borrowed everything we could. This problem ain’t going away so soon. With my business, I’m trying to cut costs every day.”
Roland’s brother, Mark Roland, owner of Roland Tire, also spoke at the hearing, saying school officials should stop comparing our county to other counties with a large industrial base.
“I think we need to quit comparing Pickens to Cherokee and Gordon counties,” Mark Roland said. “We have no industry here. We have no huge facilities that pay huge property taxes. Most of the economy here in Pickens County has been driven by the construction business in the past 20 or 30 years.”
Roland said unemployment here is probably around 30 percent, a number not shown on unemployment figures, since most construction workers can’t draw unemployment benefits.
“You need to be proactive and take into consideration the amount of revenue that small businesses make,” he said. “If it wasn’t up to our good management we probably wouldn’t be here today. A lot of it is self-taught.”
Ballew responded, saying the school system had cut 13 positions since last year and furloughed all its employees three days at the beginning of the school year.
“We may see more of that before it’s over with,” Ballew said of the furloughs. “The economy needs to turn around pretty quick. We’ve had cut after cut after cut we’ve had to deal with this year. We don’t want to raise the millage, but at the same time, there is an obligation to furnish an education to the boys and girls of Pickens County.”
Trammell pointed out that some of the property tax increase comes from the legislature rescinding the homestead exemption.
“On a $200,000 home, you’ll have an increase of around $300, and $180 of that is because the legislature took away your homestead exemption,” he said. “I talked with one of our representatives who about a year ago was proposing that we use sales tax to fund our school system. And I think any reasonable person would say that if they’d done that this year, we probably would have shut down the schools because sales tax is down.
“The school board has spent many, many hours on this. While nobody wants to talk about cutting and doing this and that our administration has found ways to cut thousands and thousands of dollars, you can’t get cut like we have and go on funding a school system.”
Joey Roland said it may not be enough and cautioned the board to make deeper cuts.
“I don’t see anything that’s going to be better next year. Are y’all preparing for that? What happens when these same people who couldn’t pay last year can’t pay this year or next year?”
Others agreed, asking that the board continue to make cuts.
“What are your projections for next year when the economy continues to worsen?” asked Jan Oda. “Where does it stop? In my household when I can’t afford something, I have to cut something. You’ve got to cut. If you can’t afford it, you have to cut.
“Property owners have nowhere to go. This tax increase hurts people. A lot of people are out of work. Lots of people are on fixed incomes. It’s nice to have all new buildings and lots of services for the kids, but you have to cut somewhere. I would like to request due diligence, making absolutely sure you can cut the budget to the bare bones until at least this economic crisis is over.”
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