On Monday, September 27, Warner Robins came together in their regular meeting chambers at 5:00 p.m. to hold a special called meeting regarding the millage rate within the city of Warner Robins, and the discussion began in earnest.
What many may have thought would be an open and shut item quickly turned into one of much deliberation as council discussed the millage rate. Previous Monday’s meeting, there had been several public hearings where council heard the thoughts of Warner Robins citizens.
Warner Robins Mayor and Council have been discussing maintaining their millage rate at 9.98, as it has been for years in the past. Typically, this would not affect any property owner’s taxes, as the rate has stayed the same. This year, however, Houston County Tax Assessors did a reassessment of the property values in Houston County, and 98% of properties saw a rise in value. Therefore, many property owners within Warner Robins will see a rise in their taxes come December.
With a motion on the table, much conversation was held regarding the millage rate and whether it should actually be rolled back rather than be maintained. Councilman Derek Mack said, “I understand the need for our taxes to be where they’re at to pay for the things we do as a city, but we also have to keep in mind that we have a lot of people. We raised the utility rates, and we have a lot of elderly people, and host of other people who are not working right now.” Mack went on to suggest the implementation of a penny sales tax, potentially for interstate traffic or renters. “I understand the need for it, but I do not necessarily agree on where we are placing this burden.” Mack closed by making a concise proposition that council rollback the millage rate.
Lauritsen and Toms both agreed that looking into a penny sales tax could be a fruitful task for the future but made no moves to make this a reality for 2021. Toms even went so far as to add, “A 9.98 millage rate is incredibly low. Yes, as it has been said many times, it was Donald Walker’s goal to get the millage rate down under 10. We did that. He did that, with the council we had at the time, and we’ve consistently kept it under 10. I feel good about where the millage rate is. We didn’t raise taxes on individuals, their house value went up.” Toms reiterated once again that he would not be opposed to looking for alternate methods of taxation in the future.
Mack provided a rebuttal. “There are a lot of things that contribute to people’s tax increase and the [housing] bubble we’re in. A lot of things contribute from the pandemic, the inability to obtain materials to build houses have made it hard. I am against the millage rate remaining the same.”
Despite Mack’s disapproval of the resolution, council approved the item with a four to two vote: Mack and Councilman Larry Curtis remained opposed, while Councilmen Charlie Bibb, Kevin Lashley, Keith Lauritsen and Clifford Holmes voted in favor.
Without any citizen comments, council moved into their own personal comments.
Lauritsen made a final comment on the millage in saying, “I would love to roll this millage rate back, absolutely love to. We’ve already experienced quite a bit of inflation, and it’s my theory that we’re going to experience a lot more in the next six to eight months. Inflation affects individuals, but it also affects government entities. I’m still fearful of the budget we’ve laid out several months ago, I know we factor in inflation, but it could get out of hand. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to roll the millage rate back at this time. However, in the very near future, I am very in favor of rolling it back if we can get it lower.”
Lashley made note of something that Toms has reiterated in the past. “You can go online to the Department of Revenue for the state of Georgia, and you can look at every single county and community within Georgia. Look at anybody who touches our borders; we’re still the lowest around. We’ve been able to do that because we do manage our money well in this city. We do a good job of managing the money. I think if you take a good look and quit listening to talking points from people who are outside of it, and just listen and look at what’s there, you will see we’re doing a good job with the money.” Lashley also commented that he would be interested in a penny sales tax in the future.
Holmes also made a comment supporting the maintaining of the millage rate. “We made a budget based on the millage rate. All of this was done prior to, and we voted on that. To take back from it, would mean cutting something at this time. However, if you look around us, a 1% sales tax, a penny sales tax, however you want to phrase it, if we’re looking at rolling it back next year, we’ve got some direction now.”
When he made his comment, Curtis said, “The property owners carry the biggest burden of the city. They pay the most money, and we had an opportunity today to show them some love, we had an opportunity to roll back the tax rate, but we chose not to do that. The ones that support us the most, I just don’t understand it. It was an opportunity. Every time I go ask for something, I hear, ‘Oh we’ve got plenty of funding, we can do that.’ I don’t think it’s about money.” Curtis continued, “Just remember today, we had an opportunity to help out the ones that carry the biggest burden for the city: the property owners.”
Toms made a final rebuttal. “Obviously, sometimes we make comments up here and people don’t think about it too much.” Then, speaking to council, Toms added, “But every single one of you, every single one of you, voted for not rolling back the millage rate. You did it by voting for the budget. You voted for the budget, and the fact that the millage rate wasn’t rolled back was in the budget. Now you want to vote against keeping the millage rate the same. I just want to point out that you did, in fact, vote for keeping the millage rate the same, and then you voted to not keep the millage rate the same.” Toms also addressed the raising of utility rates for Warner Robins citizens. “Our utility rates are incredibly low compared to the state average.”
Interjecting, Mack commented, “That means we’re doing something right.”
Toms continued. “In doing that, raising it a little bit here and there, we’re going to be able to pay for capital projects, and we’re going to be able to get things done. But our utility rates are lower than most people in the state of Georgia. The average utility rate, water and sewer, is about $69 in the state of Georgia. Ours is $29.50.”
The meeting was adjourned; however, many people, both citizens and leaders in Warner Robins, still had comments to make. The Journal interviewed several for their thoughts following adjournment.
Mack stated, “Just because we have a lower average than other cities, that doesn’t mean we have to leave the rate the same. We didn’t raise the tax, but we had an opportunity to roll it back and we didn’t do that. It speaks loudly to the property owners carrying the burden of the tax digest in our city.”
Curtis commented, “This wasn’t about raising taxes. We know the county does assessments every year. To me it was about giving some relief to the property owners. We had an opportunity to roll it back, we didn’t have to roll it all the way back to 3%, but we could have at least rolled it back by one. Changes could’ve been made; the budget was late. If I recall, we had to have a special called meeting to discuss the budget. If I’m not mistaken, I believe there are amendments being made to the budget now anyway. That was nonsense.”
Police Chief John Wagner is directly affected by tonight’s decision. Through maintaining the millage rate, the city was able to find room in the budget for Wagner to bring on several new members of staff at the police department. He commented, “It’s a process, a government process. Each department asks for items out of the budget, and those budgets are approved. Through this process, it’s approved through what the millage rate is, and tax receipts. Services are rendered through those types of taxes as well. The services and departments live and die by that.” Wagner added that he recognized the possibility of a penny sales tax for next year. “Those are things that can be looked at.”
Some of Warner Robins’ citizenship, Director of the Community Outreach Service Center Isadora Thomas and Catherine Jarvis both commented on what transpired at Monday’s meeting. “I felt that it was way over the low,” Thomas said. “We’re taking care of the homeless, my husband and I. We didn’t get a grant through the city this year; we got COVID money that is designated to specific things. I am an abiding citizen trying to take care of the city that I live in, and I don’t feel that what I’m doing is appreciated by officials here in the city. I don’t do it for their appreciation, I do it because I have the heart to do it, but I would like their backing. Utility bills are off the top.” Thomas added that she feels much the same about the city’s property taxes.
Jarvis added, “I don’t felt that everything was laid out on the table. You hear so many different stories from the officials. You may get a story; I may get a story. It’s not consistent. [Toms] is supposed to be a man of God.”
Some of Warner Robins’ citizens who are running for office commented as well. Michael Jones, competing for Holmes’ spot in Post 2 said, “I was very proud of Councilman Mack and Curtis for actually taking that hard step and not voting it up, and for Mack to actually propose something that could help the taxpayers. I think it was disrespectful and rude for them to try and push this tax increase as quickly as they did. They know people are hurting, and they know that the property owners already have a big enough burden.”
Attorney LaRhonda Patrick, one of Toms’ opponents in the November mayoral race commented “At a time when families and small business are still struggling from the pandemic and its affect on the economy, Mayor Toms and certain council members missed the opportunity to provide relief to families within the city of Warner Robins. At the public tax hearing today, our leadership had a chance to offset the triannual county property assessment and they chose not to.” Patrick continued, “This is not the time for our mayor and city leaders to lack empathy and be oblivious to the needs of our community. Many are aware that we are in a ‘Real Estate Bubble’ that will most likely burst in the next 12 months, causing now inflated home values to plummet. When this bubble bursts, and the real estate market goes down, we will be stuck paying higher property taxes for another two to three years. Small business, citizens and property owners deserve leadership that understands the needs and concerns of its community. As citizens, we are stakeholders of Warner Robins and our local officials are tasked with the stewardship of managing our tax dollars efficiently.”
**Patrick’s full response can be found on Page 9.
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