County lowers, school raises millage rates

Pike County commissioners set the millage rate at an Aug. 22 meeting at 12.5 mills, a reduction of .364 mills from last year’s rate, which was 12.864.’At the end of the day, there were about $1 million worth of cuts,’ said county manager Bill Sawyer. ‘If you take the fire fees that were eliminated from the county and the millage rate reduction, the county’s proportional savings add up. Our job was to do the best we could to get spending in line and do whatever we could to give some tax relief to the taxpayer. I think we accomplished that. We’ll see what happens with respect to revenue stream.’Pike County board of education members voted 3-2 to approve a 5.19% millage rate increase at the Thursday, Aug. 18 meeting. Dr. William Bell and Roger Green opposed the millage increase and chairman Fred Blackmon was not present at the meeting.The tax increase will result in a millage rate of 14.274 mills, an increase of .711 mills. The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $150,000 is about $42 and the increase for a non-residential property with a fair market value of $100,000 is about $28.