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By Jay King
HOMETOWN NEWS
The ongoing fracas involving the Holly Springs Fire and Rescue Department’s budget and whether or not the department can afford a fulltime chief highlights a basic misunderstanding on the part of the commission on how government budgeting works.
The situation has the county auditor’s office both puzzled and frustrated, especially after members of that office spent hours trying to explain the process to at least two commissioners in recent weeks.
At the root of at least part of the misinformation and misunderstanding is the proposed millage rollback during 2008’s reassessment that would have reduced taxpayers’ assessed milage from 18 mills to 16.7.
According to Assistant Auditor Patty Epps, under normal circumstances a millage rollback would be automatic. In the case of Holly Springs, the district had a prior year deficit that permitted the district to maintain the 18 mills approved by voters in a 2001 referendum.
Epps explained that the only time a millage reduction would happen is during that reassessment year and that the Holly Springs Fire Commission approved maintaining the 18-mill tax rate to pay off the prior year’s deficit.
For the rest of the story, see this week’s issue of your local Hometown News; Woodruff News, Boiling Springs Sentry, Inman Times, Blacksburg Times, Middle Tyger Times, Chesnee Tribune, Spartanburg County News and Whitmire News.
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