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Senior residents tell Newton County commissioners a tax increase could force them from their homes
Summary
At a Newton County public hearing, Marie Bruce and other residents said seniors on fixed incomes fear that a proposed 2.16% tax increase will make it impossible to keep homes, citing Social Security limits and county spending priorities. Speakers urged the county to consider affordability for long-term residents before raising the millage.
Marie Bruce, a Newton County resident, told commissioners that seniors living on Social Security are already struggling and would be put at risk by a proposed property tax increase. "I go to bed every night wondering, of this year, am I gonna be able to keep my home because I can't pay my property tax because the mill's rate keeps going up?" she said, citing that her house had not changed yet she faced a much higher bill.
Bruce said the burden of higher taxes falls on longtime homeowners and seniors even when recent sales or development push assessments upward. She described trade-offs forced by rising costs: "There's no sense in y'all taking food and medicine out of our pockets just so we have a home to keep our property," and urged officials to stop what she called a pattern of pressuring seniors to pay for county spending priorities. No board action on the millage was taken at the session; the hearing provided an opportunity for public comment ahead of any later decision.
