Dougherty Co. property taxes could go up

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - If you rent or own property in Dougherty County, your monthly bills could go up considerably next year.

Dougherty County Commissioners have tentatively adopted a 23% increase over the rollback millage rate. The main reason was because of inflation, but also to pay county employees more.

This means for a $100,000 home, the owner would see a $135 increase in property taxes.

After previously considering raising the millage rate by 4.5 mills, the county commission voted to raise the millage rate by 3.5 mills instead. Chairman Chris Cohilas said 3.5 will work.

“More number crunching has happened and we’re looking at those more precise issues. We had a lot of commissioners that were trying to find if there was any way to do anything other than a property tax increase. We also wanted to make sure our employees were getting paid.”

They are having three public hearings this month to hear community input. Two will be on Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. The last public hearing will be on Aug. 29 at 10 a.m. They will also make their final decision on the 29th.

The county also made a decision about SPLOST. They are moving forward with SPLOST funding with or without the city of Albany.

After weeks of back and forth, the county is finalizing SPLOST funding to be a 36- 64 split with the majority of those funds going to the city.

The city wants a larger chunk advocating for a 70-30 split.

If the city and county don’t reach an agreement in the next few days, the county can move forward without them.

“I would hope the city understands it’s going to result in them losing a significant amount, and we got to get this issue on the ballot soon,” said Cohilas.

SPLOST funding is used for special projects in the county and city. Money is collected and spent over six years through sales tax.

If both governments don’t agree on a split, the other avenues the county can take will cut funding, and the number of projects they’re able to fund.

The county has until next Monday to submit the split to the board of elections so people can vote on the issue in November.

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