Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tax Reassessment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Officials explain reassessment notice: market value and taxable value differ; county millage rolled back
Summary
Lexington County staff and finance officials told the council that reassessment notices show market value and taxable value separately, that state law caps taxable increases at 15% between reassessments, and that the county rolled back its millage so the county portion of taxes is not automatically an increase.
County staff gave a public briefing explaining reassessment notices, the statutory cap on taxable-value increases and how the county's millage rollback affects property-tax bills.
Jeff (staff) and Rick (staff) explained that reassessment notices list a market value and a taxable value and that, by state law, taxable value can increase by up to 15% between reassessments. Jeff said the market-value number on a notice is informational for taxpayers but that the tax calculation uses the taxable value subject to the statutory cap.
Officials explained that reassessment redistributes the same total county revenue across updated values rather than automatically increasing the county's tax take. In the county's draft budget, administrators rolled back county operating millage from 98.639 mills (in the prior year) to about 89.6 mills, and estimated bond millage will fall from about 2.3 mills to roughly 2.0 mills, producing an overall county millage near 91.6 mills; the rollback is intended to keep county revenue roughly level with the prior year (excluding revenue from growth).
Speakers emphasized legal-residence (homestead) treatment: residents with legal residence do not pay school operating millage because of the state's school funding structure (state sales-tax offsets); however, school bond millage and special-purpose district millage may still appear on bills. Staff noted that school districts can use a statutory "look-back" to recapture previously unused CPI/population increases under state law; council members were urged to monitor school-district millage-setting decisions separately.
Officials urged residents to read both values on reassessment notices, and to note that some property owners will pay more and others less depending on how the 15% cap and the rollback interact with their parcel's new taxable value. Staff said they would provide additional outreach materials to help homeowners interpret reassessment notices.
