Tentative county rollback rate adopted with 9%-plus growth after revaluation
The good news is there will not be an increase in the 2026 tax rate, but the hope for a significant tax rollback by the Jones County Board of Commissioners does not appear to be happening this year.
Board members held a public hearing Aug. 27 to hear concerns of taxpayers.
The meeting was sparsely attended, and audience members in attendance asked no questions.
All Jones County Commissioners were present at the meeting with the exception of Commissioner Daylon Martin.
The public hearing was called to order by Commission Chairman Chris Weidner. County Administrator Jason Rizner presented the first agenda item, an overview of the county’s FY27 budget.
He explained the public hearing was required a week before the budget could be adopted. The date of the budget adoption was set for Sept. 3 at 6:30 p.m.
Rizner said the multi-step process for the adoption of the 2027 budget and the 2026 millage rate are separate but related. He said before the tax rate is set, the five-year history has to be advertised in the legal organ with the proposed tax rollback rate.
The 2025 millage rate for unincorporated Jones County was 12.963. The 2026 rate is proposed at 12.085, which is a reduction of 0.878, not quite a mill. According to the county’s tax levy computation the value of a mill for this year’s tax purposes is $1,147,309. A mill was valued at $1,052,891 in 2025.
The 2025 millage rate for the City of Gray was 14.219, and the proposed 2026 rate is 13.177, which is a reduction of 1.042 mills.
A mill is the value of 0.001 of the net digest of the unincorporated and incorporated (City of Gray) portions of the county. As long as those rates are not increased, the millage rate can be adopted the next week, which will be Sept. 10.
Rizner went on to explain the rollback rate takes out the inflationary growth and growth from reassessments, leaving actual growth in the digest, like new construction.
The actual additional tax dollars received from that growth is $228,000 in the unincorporated county and $7,664 in the city, a total of $235,000.
The administrator said the total of property taxes is an estimated $13,772,029. He also listed other large revenue contributors to the budget from numbers provided by the state. That included $2,279,295 from TAVT (vehicle tags), $3,054,238 Local Option Sales Tax Collections and insurance premium taxes of $2,437,534.
Rizner also talked about other factors affecting the budget, beginning with the increase in health insurance for employees that increased by 7 percent and the annual 4 percent salary increase for employees, with 2 percent of that a cost-of-living adjustment.
He said the budget is still a work in progress, but he feels the county may need to take funds from the fund balance to balance the budget as is required by law.
“We are fortunate to be able to set back money.”
According to budget worksheets provided at the meeting, the 2027 budget is estimated at $31,595,128, which includes a deficit of $226,803.
Comments and questions from commissioners at the conclusion of the meeting started with Commissioner Sam Kitchens. He asked if the budget estimate includes any special requests from department heads. Rizner said it did not. The administrator said 30 requests had been received totaling $3 million.
Kitchens asked if those requests could be narrowed to needs vs. wants. He also said the board has to figure something out about health insurance.
“I feel like we have gone as far as we can go,” he said.
Commissioner John Wood suggested the county look at using more private contractors to reduce health insurance expenses.
Wood also said he was pleased with the work of the staff in compiling the budget.
Weidner agreed. He said the finance department employees remain until 8:30 some evenings.
Commissioner Wendy Vaughn said department heads do well in holding down costs.
“But inflation makes it difficult while we are trying to improve departments like EMS and the sheriff’s office,” she said.
Weidner said the county feels inflation like everyone else.
“Increases in health insurance are out of control, and we are running out of ways to cut costs,” he said.
Chief Appraiser Lori Buchanan talked about the 2026 tax digest at an Aug. 21 called meeting of the Board of Assessors to approve the tax digest. She said the net digest shows a 9.19 percent increase, which is significant. Buchanan said 672 real property appeals were received, representing 4 percent of the properties. That number is well below the state’s 8 percent threshold related to the approval of the digest.
“We are very pleased with the overall results of the 2026 digest,” she said. “Completing a countywide revaluation is a significant undertaking, and achieving a 9.19 percent increase in the net digest while maintaining relatively low appeal percentages is something our board, staff and everyone involved in the revaluation process can be proud of.”
The adoption of the 2027 budget is set for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 3 and the adoption of the 2026 millage rate at 6 p.m. Sept. 10.
