The tax increase proposed by Hall Commission Chairman Tom Oliver is advertised in today's Times.
The advertisement is the first official step toward considering the proposal Oliver made last month to raise county property tax rates and help ease an $11.5 million budget shortfall.
The plan now will be given three public hearings: at 6 p.m. June 21 and noon and 6 p.m. June 30.
The proposal pushes back the county's original budget adoption date from June 23 to mere hours before fiscal 2012 begins on July 1.
Oliver, a Republican, offered the tax hike in lieu of what he called a "massive reduction in services."
The county's current millage rate is 7.76. Oliver has offered a budget proposal that seeks to raise that rate by 1.41 mills.
One mill equals $1 for every $1,000 in assessed value. The county assesses on 40 percent of the total value. Under the proposal, the owner of a $180,000 home would see a little more than a $100 increase in property taxes.
Of the increase Oliver proposed, 0.6 mills are meant to offset losses in property values in the county.
According to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, the commission may increase, or "roll up," the property tax rate to make up for lost property values, which county officials say have declined 21 percent since 2008.
A previous budget proposal, scrapped Thursday after residents came out in masses to oppose it, included neither an increase or a roll-up in the county tax rate. Instead, the proposed spending plan threatened to severely cut employee pay, parks and leisure services, and library service. It would eliminate about 100 jobs.
County commissioners have not yet agreed to vote for Oliver's tax increase, yet at least two, Billy Powell and Ashley Bell, have said it deserves an official discussion.
Officially, however, Powell has only said he would support a roll-up in the tax rate. Commissioner Scott Gibbs has also said he would support a roll-up.
Commissioner Craig Lutz has said he is against any tax increase.
Even with Oliver's proposed 1.41-mill tax increase, county officials will have to make $3.5 million in cuts and eliminate more than 50 jobs.
