Tax digest drops 10 percent

The preliminary Grady County tax digest figures indicate the value of the county’s digest dropped approximately 10 percent from last year.
Grady County Administrator Rusty Moye said Friday that Chief Appraiser Susan Bennett had submitted the preliminary digest to him, but it will be Wednesday before the administrator can complete his budget calculations.
County commissioners say they will have to raise the ad valorem millage rate, but county leaders want to keep revenues neutral if at all possible.
Last year, one mill of tax generated $581,119, but with the 10 percent drop in the digest a mill will bring in less revenue.
County Commission Chairman Charles Norton says the board will have to raise the millage rate by just over one mill just to generate the same amount of property taxes as last year.
The value of real property dropped $64,055,872 for a total value of $564,625,915.
Moye reports that personal property took a 4.6 percent dive, or down $2,689,165.
The value of motor vehicles in the unincorporated areas of the county increased by nearly $2 million, but the value of motor vehicles in the incorporated cities dropped approximately $709,000.
County commissioners will begin budget preparations Monday night when they kick off a three-night series of meetings with constitutional officers and county department heads.