Town Council Meeting - Special Called Millage Meeting - Revised

TYRONE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING - SPECIAL CALLED MILLAGE MEETING MINUTES August 17, 2023 at 6:30 PM Eric Dial, Mayor Gloria Furr, Mayor Pro Tem, Post 4 Linda Howard, Post 1 Brandon Perkins, Town Manager Melissa Hill, Post 2 Dee Baker, Town Clerk Billy Campbell, Post 3 Dennis Davenport, Town Attorney Also present: Phillip Trocquet, Assistant Town Manager Lt. Philip Nelson Sandy Beach, Finance/HR Manager I. CALL TO ORDER II. INVOCATION III. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Comments are limited to three (3) minutes. Please state your name & address. Comments that require a response may not be answered during this time. The Council or staff may respond at a later date. V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA A motion was made to approve the agenda. Motion made by Council Member Campbell, Seconded by Council Member Hill. Voting Yea: Council Member Howard, Council Member Furr. VI. CONSENT AGENDA: All matters listed under this item are considered to be routine by the Town Council and will be enacted by one motion. There will not be separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately. VII. PRESENTATIONS VIII. PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. Consideration to set the 2023 millage rate for the Town of Tyrone Mayor Dial explained that the final public hearing was for the consideration to maintain the same millage rate for the 16th year in a row. The millage rate reflects the property taxes. Our property values have gone up which by law is viewed as a property tax increase. However, the Town was keeping its millage rate the same. Page 1 of 3  Mayor Dial opened the public hearing for anyone that wished to keep the millage rate the same. No one spoke. Mayor Dial opened the public hearing for anyone that wished to oppose the item. Ms. Sharlene Alexander who lives on Anthony Dr. stated that she has been a resident for 33-years. She commended Council, the Town Manager and staff for maintaining the millage rate for the 16th year in a row. However, it feels like shell game. By keeping the millage rate the same citizens still have a 9.49% increase. She added that although she no longer paid the Board of Education tax and had homestead exemption, her tax bill still increased over 13%. She suggested that in the future to lower the millage rate or reconsider how the Town spends its funding Ms. Darlena Fields who lives on Mann Road in unincorporated Fayette County shared that she moved there in July of 2021 and since then her taxes have increased by 25%. If the increase continued, she may not be able to retire there. She opposed the property tax increase. Ms. Jessica Whelan a Valleywood Road resident shared that she spoke on Tuesday night. She mentioned the information that was given by Mr. Perkins which compared the Town’s millage rate to other municipalities. She added that in the other municipalities where the millage rates were higher, did they have SPLOST and a County Commission that was raising the taxes? The information sounded good; however, we need to think of what was best for us and consider rolling back our millage. Mayor Dial closed the public hearing. He stated that the final Council vote would come at the 7:00 pm meeting that night. IX. OLD BUSINESS X. NEW BUSINESS XI. PUBLIC COMMENTS: The second public comment period is for any issue. Comments are limited to three (3) minutes. Please state your name & address. Comments that require a response may not be answered during this time. The Council or staff may respond at a later date. XII. STAFF COMMENTS Mr. Perkins addressed Ms. Whelan’s comments regarding his information. He stated that the information quoted was from cities within Fayette County. All Fayette County cites were utilizing SPLOST and LOST funds. The difference was that Fayetteville did not pay a Fire tax, and Peachtree City did not pay Fire or EMS. Those city taxes were higher because they had their own fire departments and emergency services, and they also had a lot more residents than Tyrone. He added that if the Town were to attempt to run its own fire department or emergency services, we would not be able to maintain because Tyrone did not have the number of residents it takes. XIII. COUNCIL COMMENTS XIV. EXECUTIVE SESSION XV. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made to adjourn. Motion made by Council Member Campbell. Voting Yea: Council Member Howard, Council Member Hill, Council Member Furr. The meeting adjourned at 6:39 pm. By: Attest: Eric Dial, Mayor Dee Baker, Town Clerk