Millage rate bumped up for economic development

Published 5:07 pm Friday, August 31, 2018

Property taxes will see a small bump this year after the Decatur County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution for the 2018 tax levy Tuesday.

Compared to 2017, the City of Bainbridge, the City of Attapulgus, the Town of Brinson and the City of Climax will see an increase of 0.59 mills this year. The unincorporated regions will see a bump of 0.87 mills.

The resolution provides a lower maintenance and operations rate of 10.37 mills across all five districts, down from 11.19 for unincorporated and 10.61 for Bainbridge, Attapulgus, Brinson and Climax in 2017. It also states a bump in sales tax rollbacks for 2018, up to 2.31 from 2.25 in 2017.

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The rates for all taxable property within Decatur County are as follows:

10.73 mills on all properties located in incorporated areas (Bainbridge, Attapulgus, Brinson, Climax)

10.73 mills on all properties located in unincorporated areas

0.9 mills (except for in the City of Bainbridge) on all taxable properties for the Fire Services Special District

0.250 mills for the Bainbridge-Decatur County Development Authority

1.250 mills for the Bainbridge-Decatur County Recreation Authority

1.580 mills for the Bainbridge-Decatur County Hospital Authority.

The unincorporated regions will see an 0.86 added for items specifically identified by the Service Delivery Agreement.

The slight increase comes chiefly from a 1 mill “Economic Development Bonds” category across all four incorporated areas and the unincorporated areas.

Taurus, USA, a leading international firearms manufacturer, announced in April its plans to invest more than $22.5 million in infrastructure and operations to build its new North American headquarters in Bainbridge. The company and local officials broke ground at the Commodore Industrial Park, the site of the new facility, on Tuesday.

As part of a large incentive package offered to Taurus USA, the Bainbridge-Decatur County Industrial Development Authority, the City of Bainbridge and the Decatur County Board of Commissioners together provided $20,000,000 to be used for site preparations and construction of a building and firing range to Taurus USA’s specifications.

The 1 mill Economic Development Bonds category reflects the money spent as part of the package deal for Taurus USA.

Taurus USA’s new manufacturing plant will be 200,000-square-feet and create 300 jobs. Construction is currently underway with plans to move in during the first quarter of 2020.