Where Your Tax Money Goes

Jefferson County is in the midst of budgeting season and there have been predictions from Jefferson County Director of Finance Helton that a tax increase is in the near future for Jefferson County property owners. Director Helton has expressed that the County Commission may be able to keep the amount of property tax increase lower by redistributing how funds are allocated in the budget. Currently, the County has a $2.05 property tax rate and the worth of the penny for the current fiscal year is around $117,000. Fiscal year 2013-2014 will not enjoy the same rate, as the worth of a penny has fallen to $116,500 and the drop will have an impact on the budgeting process. The split of the $2.05 currently has the County General Fund getting the lion’s share of the funds, with 79 cents of the tax rate going into the County General Fund. It is followed by funds committed to the Department of Education, with 62 cents currently going to the school system. The remainder of the $2.05 tax rate is allocated to three funds-Debts Service at twenty five cents, Highway Department at 19 cents and the Landfill at fifteen cents. Reallocation of funds from a healthy Debt Service could off set overages from County Departments during this budgeting cycle. Hard numbers on the various fund balances in the County will not be available until the end of the current fiscal year on June 30^th. At that time, over budgeted amounts will roll into fund balance on both the school and County side, though anticipated roll over amounts cannot be used to balance fiscal year 2013-2014 budget. Helton has stated that the does expect some roll over on the County side and there could be a minimal roll over on the school side of the budget, however it is not expected to be nearly as substantial as in previous years. The County Commission recently extended the tax rate to ensure that a tax rate is in place until the next fiscal year’s budget can be adopted and a new tax rate is set.