The Fulton County Board of Commissioners held their regular July meeting, where Fulton County taxpayers told them they cannot afford a property tax increase during mileage rate hearings on July 9.
During their June 18 meeting, on a 4-3 vote, the mileage rate proposal was set at 9.87 mills, raising an additional $78.9 million in property tax revenue compared to what county finance staff proposed.
The proposed 8.87 mileage rate would raise an additional $7.89 million in taxes and fund the budget the commissioners passed in February.
Residents during the meeting and via Zoom claimed that inflation and high housing costs make it too expensive to live in the county.
Fulton County resident Devin Barrington-Ward says he showed up to voice his concerns during to hold the county commissioners accountable for potential tax raises in tax breaks to big corporations like Microsoft and people like Elon Musk to build data centers that are harmful to the community.
“I’m concerned that they’re willing to raise our taxes but not make sure people who own high-end real estate in downtown, midtown, and Buckhead are paying their fair share in taxes,” he said. “I’m tired of subsidizing millionaires and billionaires.”
Photo by Isaiah Singleton/The Atlanta Voice
Ward continued to say Fulton County’s budget can’t be balanced on the backs of working-class people who are already struggling with inflation and high interest rates.
“Grocery prices are expensive, and the wages are not increasing, so at some point somebody has to ask, what gives and who are you here to serve,” he says. “As more people recognize their taxes are going up, they’re not seeing their services go up, they’re going to be pissed, and people will feel the ramifications of that at the ballot box.”
Dorothy Harp, 75, lives on a fixed income and said property taxes should be abolished for seniors aged 65 and up.
“We do not need an increase in the millage rate that’s going to knock the seniors like me out of my home. I’ve been living in that house 40 years, and I’m sick of paying the county property tax,” she said.
Sandy Springs City Council member Jody Reichel spoke to the commissioners as both an elected official and as a property owner.
“Instead of combing through the budget for savings, you’ve asked residents to pay more of a burden,” she said. “You’re telling seniors on fixed income, young families scraping to get by, and small businesses barely hanging on that they need to pay for your lack of restraint.”
Additionally, Ward says commissioners need to completely reform the tax breaks they give to corporations, put pressure on the board of assessors
“Tax breaks are supposed to be used to spur economic development and potentially create jobs, but if you’re giving tax breaks to entities that are going to give a tax break that’s actually going to benefit people,” he said.
South Fulton resident Amber Hawk says her homeowners’ insurance has more than tripled this year, and a mileage rate increase would raise costs even more.
“That’s going to make it virtually impossible for my family to stay here, even with us working 40-plus hours a week, it feels like you guys are trying to push us out of our community,” she said.
Grove Park resident Mike Russell, who wants the commission to do a full rollback on property taxes, told a story about a woman in the neighborhood who can’t afford to get her plumbing fixed. Another resident down the street from Russell’s house lost power for 30 days last summer after a tree fell on his house. He didn’t have the $10,000 needed to fix it.
They hope to have a final vote in August, and they also hope the public pressure that has been amassed will open the commissioners’ eyes.
“It’s been a long fight, but everyone is saying the same thing, whether it’s North Fulton, City of Atlanta, South Fulton, White, Black, poor, middle-class, everyone is saying, we can’t afford it,” Ward said.
Ward adds there are several commissioners who are pushing tax increases who want to be the chair of the Fulton County Commission in the next election cycle as well.