Hall BOE proposed tax increase revised

GAINESVILLE - Hall County school officials continue to fine-tune their proposed budget and say they've now cut enough to reduce the amount of the proposed tax increase.

Superintendent Will Schofield says based on the latest cuts, the school system will need around $500,000 less in tax revenues than expected.

That, he says, will reduced the proposed tax rate increase by just over a tenth of a mill, to 16.42 mills. Schofield said, as things now stand, the tax rate hike would be 4.27 percent instead of the 4.95 percent originally proposed.

Among the latest developments, according to Schofield, "We cut all non-essential spending on the last day of April, 2008; tax collections continue to lag last year by approximately 3 percent; our salary accruals for summer are now computed and booked; and, our total spending for the year will come in approximately 2 percent under budget."

"The net effect...is that with some additional cuts we have made in the past week, the Hall County School Board is now considering a budget that reflects a request for between $500,000 and $550,000 less in local taxes than we had initially anticipated a couple of weeks ago," Schofield added. "Bottom line to millage rate: a reduction of eleventh hundredths mills from the original figure of 16.53 to 16.42. We are continuing to look at additional possibilities prior to our next meeting."