Dalton school board looks to cut property tax rate
Oct. 18—The members of the Dalton Board of Education voted 5-0 Monday to set a tentative 2022 property tax rate of 8.09 mills, down from 8.095 mills in 2021.
They agreed to vote to set the tax rate on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 6:30 p.m.
They also plan to reduce the tax rate to repay debt to .56 mills from .57 mills.
In September, the Whitfield County Board of Assessors unanimously voted to hold property values at their 2021 rates and to assess new construction at 2021 values.
Theresa Perry, the school system's chief financial officer, said the tax digest will still grow about 3% due to new construction. The rollback tax rate, which would cancel additional revenues because of reassessments, would be 8.092 mills, so the proposed tax cut is larger than what would be required to meet the rollback rate.
The school's fiscal year began July 1. Perry said the fiscal year 2023 budget includes five school resource officers. The school system would like to increase that to seven, and if the Dalton Police Department can provide those additional officers the maintenance and operations budget would need to increase by $122,000.
Perry said the maintenance and operations budget would also need to increase $350,000 to cover rising electricity, water and sewer costs.
"Now, it's possible that rates could come down, and we won't stay at this high level," she said.
But she said based on current trends the school system's utilities costs will go up.
"I'm not really sure what to expect," she said. "With other cost increases, whether it's gas, which is already coming back up, I'm really not sure what to expect."
In a work session before the meeting, Director of Sports and Facilities George Woods presented a plan to increase sports participation among elementary and middle school students. He said that will involve working closely with the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department, which would run many of the sports.
"Other sports would be more of the travel team form," he said. "In football, for instance, maybe you travel to Chattanooga to play some other really good football teams. In baseball, it could be more of a Little League format."
He said the school system has already formed Dalton Cats wrestling, which competes in AAU wrestling and is open for kindergarten students to eighth-graders.
"We have 43 kids training," he said.
He said it gives students who are new to wrestling an opportunity to learn, and those who are already active in middle school wrestling more opportunities to compete.
Woods said they have also created Dalton Cats baseball, which plays Little League baseball through the rec department.
"We are moving pretty well in baseball," he said.
They've also formed a Dalton Cats travel softball team and Dalton Cats basketball, a fifth-grade developmental program.
