Winston Co. Lower Assessed Value Means Tax Increase or Budget Cuts

Local governing bodies may face some budget shortfalls or be forced to raise mil levies for the upcoming year. Winston County Tax Assessor Brenda Miles informed the Board of Supervisors that the county's total assessed valuation declined from the previous year by as much as 3 million dollars. The total county assessed valuation is the total pool of valued property subject to taxation. As the pool shrinks (in this case by 3 million dollars), those remaining in the pool must pay more to maintain the same amount of tax dollars. As an example, If County A has a total assessed value of 100 million dollars and a budget requirement of 3 million dollars, then a mil levy of 30 mils would be required. (30 mils corresponds to a decimal of 0.03- so 0.03 x 100,000,000 yields 3 million dollars). If County A's assessed value shrinks to 97 million dollars but the budget requirement remains at 3 million then the mil levy would need to increase to 30.9 mils resulting in an individual taxpayer having a 3% increase in taxes.


The loss in assessed value does not guarantee a tax increase as taxing authorities such as the County Board of Supervisors, City Board of Aldermen and Louisville Municipal School District may choose to cut budgets and/or services rather than raise taxes across the board. The county total assessed value is estimated at $111,078,042 of which 107,367,371 is fully taxable. (3,710,671 is taxable only by the school district and the state). Final figures are only estimates as some data continues to change and other such as future motor vehicle revenue can only be estimated based on previous year's data.

Miles indicated that the loss of value was in the area of motor vehicle revenue (car tags) and in business personal property. In the past year, residents purchased fewer new cars and there are fewer vehicles on the tax roll. Miles also pointed out that the loss of equipment value from Georgia Pacific's closure and the removal of older and obsolete equipment from Taylor Machine Works had an impact on the overall tax base. Miles stated that the real estate assessed value (residences, structures, comm buildings, land) was stable. Any decline in property values was offset by new constructions and remodels. County departments are currently preparing budgets for submission to the Board of Supervisors and the Louisville Municipal School District has held a preliminary budget hearing on June 23 with a final budget meeting scheduled for July 19.