The Demorest City Council held two millage rate public hearings on Tuesday, October 15 that were attended only by a few people.
The first public hearing was held at 12 p.m. in the old cafeteria next to the conference room. The conference room was occupied with an ongoing class.
First millage rate public hearing
Four citizens attended the first millage rate public hearing. CIty Manager Mark Musselwhite went over the three millage rate options that the council was considering. He explained to those in attendance what each millage rate represented as it relates to property taxes and the budget.
Musselwhite explained that the 2025 budget is based on the 1 mill increase. That increase would generate $126,999 in additional property taxes compared to 2023. Leaving the millage rate at 6.16 mills would generate $61,172 and the full rollback would generate just $17,661 in additional property taxes for the general fund.
He added that he had to advertise what the millage rate increase could be and that is why the three options are being discussed.
One hurdle that Musslewhite explained was that the city does not have a large commercial or industrial property base. “That is why our income is so low,” he said.
Musselwhite said that $1.4 million was just for the general fund and did not include the water and sewer department. “I’m only going to get somewhere between $300,000 and $471,000 a year from taxes,” he told the audience. He added that the majority of funds to pay for the general fund came from water transfers.
Musselwhite said that if the council chose to keep the millage rate at 6.16 mills, he would have to cut about $65,000 from the budget. If the council rolled the millage rate back, he would have to cut about $165,000 from the budget.
Mayor Jerry Harkness opened the floor for public comments. No one spoke in favor or opposition of the millage rate increase.
Second millage rate public hearing
The second millage rate public hearing was held Tuesday in the Demorest Municipal Conference room at 5 p.m. It was attended by city staff and about six citizens.
Mayor Jerry Harkness opened the public hearing for citizens to make comments.
Marie Evans was the only citizen that addressed the council about the millage rate increase. She told the council from what she could see is that the increase would be about 30%.
“All we hear about all of the time in the news is about how people are struggling and how you’re going to increase the millage rate that much when we have a lot of people that live paycheck to paycheck on a budget,” Evans said. She added “The problem that I’m seeing is this millage rate is going to also be a financial burden on some people.” She told the council, “I would like for you all to take that into consideration.”
Evans told the council that it might be a $100 increase for the year, people still have a budget. “We just had a water increase,” she said. “Now with this on top of that, I think you all need to make some concessions in regard to maybe not raising it so much this year,” Evans told the council.
Mussellwhite revisited his explanation to the audience about the three millage rate proposals that were before the council for its consideration.
The final millage rate public hearing will be on Tuesday, October 22, at 6 p.m. The public hearing will be held in the Demorest Municipal Conference Room at 250 Alabama Street in Demorest.
