3 Public Hearings Planned After Bulloch BOE Announces Tax Increase

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  Donny Turner August 7, 2022

  We’re going through the same thing here in Upson County with our school board. They are increasing the millage rate to 14 mills and the public is not happy with it. After doing extensive research on the topic, I have learned some things that you will be interested in. First, many school boards across the state have a dirty little secret that most taxpayers dont know about, and school boards won’t tell you, that I just discovered here. The have a line item in the general fund column called a “fund balance”. In reality, these funds are surplus funds accumulated over the years and are unassigned to any budgeted operations category. In looking at the Bulloch county budget online, page 1,they are showing a fund balance of $53 million. These funds could be spent for any operations category within the general fund to keep from having to raise taxes. But they don’t spend them, claiming they are for emergency situations and property tax revenue fluctations early in the school year. The problem with the funds balance is that school systems are hoarding this money and raising taxes anyway. The second issue is that Georgia law prohibits school systems from allocating an amount more that 15% of the total general budget towards this unassigned fund balance. That law is in OCGA 20-1-167. Here is an excerpt.

  “Each local school system may, however, establish a single reserve fund or reserve account intended to cover unanticipated deficiencies in revenue or unanticipated expenditures, provided that the budget for any year shall not allocate to such reserve fund or reserve account any amounts which, when combined with the existing balance in such fund or account, exceed 15 percent of that year’s total budget. A local school system may also establish one or more capital accumulation funds or accounts, and amounts may be allocated to such capital accumulation funds or accounts for expenditure in future budget years only if the purpose for which such amounts will be expended and the anticipated date of expenditure of such amounts are clearly and specifically identified. The purpose of this paragraph is to prohibit local school systems from accumulating surplus funds through taxation without accounting to the taxpayers for how such funds will be expended, and this paragraph shall be liberally construed to accomplish this purpose.”

  Based on the Bulloch county school budget that is online, Bulloch county has 50% of their budget assigned to this surplus fund balance category, 35% more than the limit. The school board will claim that the 15% limit is little more than a target, and that it is a common practice, but the law clearly states “shall not allocate.” Shall not allocate is not the equivalent of a target. So, this dirty little secret goes on across the state in many counties. I’m not sure how many, but it includes Upson County. But still, the Boards of Education go ahead increase millage rates to receive the tax equalization funds, when they could actually keep the tax rates as they are, or lower them. Its a mess that needs attention from the legislature or an opinion from the attorney general.