Published Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Senoia tax millage to be set Wednesday night

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Newnan Times-Herald

The Senoia City Council will meet Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to set the city's millage rate.

The council plans to go with the same millage rate as last year. However, because of reassessments, the millage rate amounts to approximately a 4 percent tax increase.

The first of three required hearings was held at Monday's regular city council meeting. The second will be held Wednesday morning at 9.

Also Wednesday night, the council will discuss the proposed agreement between the city and the Coweta County Library Board regarding the proposed new Senoia library.

At Monday's hearing, Scott Tigchelaar of Historic Development Ventures said he had some concerns about the property reassessments completed in the spring.

There seem to be some inconsistencies, Tigchelaar said. He saw assessments go up on properties where Historic Development Ventures bought lots and demolished the structures on them. And other properties stayed exactly the same and "went down or went way up..."

"There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it," Tigchelaar said. "We've filed some appeals."

Mayor Robert Belisle said his home hadn't been reassessed since he bought it in 1997. Until this year, that is. The value of the home jumped 60 percent, Belisle said.

In other meeting business:

* The council approved the short-term work program and updated capital improvements element.

* The council approved the demolition of the structure at 29 Barnes St. The council also approved certificates of appropriateness for projects at 48 Main St., 278 Morgan St., and 26 Main St.

* The council voted to approve a water conservation program. The city's unaccounted-for water is only about 4 percent, "which I consider extremely low," City Administrator Richard Ferry told the council. He attributed that to the employees at the water plant, public works crews and the women at city hall who take payments.

The city has upgraded to touch-read water meters for much of the city, Ferry said. Additionally, the city is going to revise its rate structure to have conservation billing, which means the more water you use, the more expensive it will be.