Milton News from Julie Zahner Bailey

Dear Milton Friends, Neighbors and Citizens:

I hope everyone had a terrific July 4th.  Milton's first citizen parade was well attended and is sure to become a great annual tradition.  The Milton Herald highlighted the parade in their July 11th addition.  A few photos from the parade are included in this release.  Enjoy!  It was a great day for Milton and for America.  Thanks to all those who were able to participate.

Lot of smiles on July 4th

Please note there is a Special Called Meeting being held today at City Hall at 4:00 p.m.  The agenda for this public meeting relates to: permits requested in the Highway 9, Hopewell Road and Crabapple areas;and existing limitations of the current Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Fulton County and the related sewer service delivery area.  This meeting will require comparisons of these various parcels with existing sewer and no sewer policies.  Scroll down for more details.

Facts regarding recently publicized information regarding Fulton County tax assessments can be found below in this release.

Since my last release and update, there have been several new developments on the topic of sewer/no sewer.  As I reported, the Mayor and Council had a Special Called Meeting on July 3 to address the permits for Sembler. 

Because the Sembler development - which includes Target, Kohl's, etc. - was about to have its' grand opening, Milton staff wanted to ensure they had the input of the Council regarding how to proceed.  As I hope you read at the time, the Sembler project is located on a parcel that was not covered by the current Intergovernmental Agreement ((IGA) with Fulton County.  Based on a number of factors that distinguished this parcel(s) from others, we unanimously agreed to provide staff the direction to proceed with the CO and related permits.  The motion to approve the permits and ultimately the connection to sewer were specifically outlined in a detailed motion citing the following facts:  The parcels are in the Big Creek Basin, the parcels are not in the Etowah Basin, the No Inter Basin Transfer Policy does not apply to these parcels, while the current IGA with Fulton County and related map did not include these parcels, these parcels had always been intended for sewer via Fulton County.  The list of distinguishing factors goes on, but you get the idea.  

Also noted during the July 3rd Special Called Meeting was the fact that other permits along Highway 9, in Crabapple and along Hopewell need to be reviewed by the Mayor and Council in concert with data provided by staff to determine how to proceed.  The circumstances of the various parcels all vary.  As an example, they are at varying stages of development, are in different basins in some cases, i.e. some are in the Big Creek Basin while others are in the Etowah, while still others may be in conflict with the No Inter Basin Transfer Policies while still others have no conflict with that long standing no-sewer policy. AJC article

Fast forward to today, Monday, July 14th, the Mayor and Council will have another Special Called Meeting at City Hall beginning at 4:00 p.m.  It is a public hearing and everyone is of course welcome to attend.  As always, there also will be time allotted for public comment.  The intent of the meeting is to review the 25-30 parcels noted by Milton staff as needing direction based on near term permit or site plan requests along with the current IGA.  The Community Development Department will provide Mayor and Council with the specifics of each situation and parcel and we will have to evaluate what next steps are appropriate for each of these situations.  

Following the Special Called Meeting is the regularly scheduled July 14th Work Session beginning at 6:00 with a focus on the 2009 budget process.  I encourage you all to attend and to begin to think about and share your expectations for the city's 2009 priorities.

Thank you for allowing me the privilege to serve you.
 
All my best,

Fulton County Tax Assessments/Process
Clarification from Milton Staff

The below information was provided by Stacey Inglis, Milton's Finance Manager.  Ms. Inglis was asked to help explain the property tax increase ad some citizens saw in the Milton Herald last week.  The below summary was provided in an effort help citizens have a better understanding of the details pertaining to the increase as well as a little bit about the process.  Thanks to Ms. Inglis for the following summary.
 
The Fulton County Tax Assessor's Office provides the City of Milton with the property values. They are compiled each year into a digest and approved by the Georgia Department of Revenue. Prior to the approval of the State, the Tax Assessor sends summary sheets to each of the cities. This summary sheet, or Consolidated Digest, is what we use to advertise a five-year history (in our case - a two-year history) and any increase in property taxes. While this sheet provides us with some detail, it isn't at the level in which I (Stacey Inglis) can answer specifically as to what portion of the values have increased due to reassessments or due to a growth in the digest.
 
As mentioned in the ad, the increase in property taxes is due to reassessments in value. The first thing that comes to mind is residential property and the current housing market conditions. How can values for residential homes increase given the slump we are facing in today's real estate market?  In actuality, a majority of the reassessments were for commercial property. The Tax Assessor's Office performed a county-wide reassessment of all of its commercial properties. Without having access to the entire 2008 digest, I can't say for sure that there weren't value reassessments for residential homes; however, I believe the rest of the digest increase is due mainly to growth. There are 113 new properties included in the 2008 digest. Some of the "new" properties were the result of correcting the tax district on parcels near our borders and others were due to the splitting of existing parcels for development. One other thing that needs to be factored in is the value of homes that were built last year. In the prior year, the parcel would have been valued as a lot and this year, it is valued as a lot and a house.
 
I hope this helps explain the property tax increase that was advertised. It's all a bit confusing, but I'll be happy to answer any further questions that you might have. Also, I would like to invite you and your neighbors to the public hearing that will be held on July 21st. I'll be giving a presentation on property taxes that you might find interesting. It'll be sort of a property tax class and could help clarify some of the cloudy issues surrounding property taxes.
 
Ms. Inglis can be contacted using the following information:
 
Stacey Inglis
Finance Manager
13000 Deerfield Parkway, Suite 107G
Milton, GA 30004
(O) 678.242.2508
(F) 678.242.2499
www.cityofmiltonga.us

City of Milton Meetings

Monday, July 14th -
    City Council Special Called Meeting     4:00 P.M., agenda
    Work Session, 6 P.M., agenda
    CPAC Meeting, 6:30 P.M., agenda

Tuesday, July 15th - Board of Zoning Appeals, 7:00 P.M., agenda

Monday, July 21st - City Council Regular Meeting, 6:00 P.M.

Tuesday, July 22nd - Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting, 6:00 P.M.

Wednesday, July 23rd - Community Zoning Information Meeting, 7:00 P.M., agenda
 
City of Milton Contacts

_______________________________

All meetings held at City Hall unless otherwise noted.

City Hall

13000 Deerfield Parkway
Suite 107
Milton, GA 30004
Phone: 678.242.2500
Fax: 678.242.2499

Click here for a map and directions to City Hall

Milton's First July 4th Citizen Parade

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of Julie Zahner Bailey and may not reflect official positions of the Milton City Council.  No City funds were used for this communication.

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