Dougherty County Commissioners approved a new budget today that does include a property tax hike for folks in unincorporated areas of the county.
But it also means police officers can rest easy and focus on doing their jobs rather than wondering if they will lose their jobs.
After much debate, the majority of county commissioners agreed today they had no choice. Without a tax increase, they say they would have had to make deep public safety cuts they decided were unacceptable.
Dougherty County police Chief Don Cheek is finally able to rest easy. For weeks, he along with his officers have been wondering if they were going to lose several positions. "If you cut a police department in half, or eliminate it, you are going to see crime go up. You are going to see response time go up and service delivery go down," he said.
For weeks, commissioners have struggled to balance the budget before the end of the month deadline. They looked at several options to avoid raising taxes from cutting street lights, to cutting animal control services, to cutting numerous police officers jobs. "The options were do you want to be hanged or shot," said Commissioner Lamar Hudgins.
Today, commissioners approved the budget in two votes. The vote for the general fund, which didn't include a tax increase, was 6-0 with one commissioner left early. The vote for the budget for the special services district that includes the unincorporated part of the county was 4-2, with commissioners John Hayes and Ewell Lyle opposing it.
But others saw no other feasible options in such a short period of time. "If we would have done nothing, not only was the safety of the public an issue, and police themselves would have no back-up it was just an unacceptable situation for me.," said Hudgins.
That means roughly 17,000 people living in the unincorporated area of dougherty county will see their property taxes go up by 2 mils. "For a 100 thousand dollar house that would be $6.67 cents a month and a $300,000 dollar house it would be $20.00 a month," said Hudgins.@
In approving the general fund, commissioners say they did not have to raise the millage rate, no unpaid holidays and no job cuts.
Commissioners say this is the first property tax increase in Dougherty County since 2002.
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The Dougherty County Commission just voted four to two to increase the millage rate by two mils on unincorporated Dougherty County.
This tax is just for the Special Services District and not for the general fund.
Commissioners also approved the 2012 and 2013 county budget.
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