Oct 20, 2005 2 min read

As they start the long and typically arduous process of crafting a 2006 budget this week, the Fayette County commissioners should stay eternally mindful of last year’s whopping 60 percent real estate tax hike. Instead of succumbing to the natural political temptation to maintain the status quo, they should endeavor mightily to scale back the current millage rate as much as possible, as a show of good faith and sound fiscal stewardship. A year ago the commissioners were beset with a confluence of mitigating factors – including murky bookkeeping, a computer system changeover and unfinished audits – that turned tracking a rolling deficit that dated back to at least 2003 into an imprecise science. They also had to deal with normal increases in the cost of running county government, plus some things like jail cell rental and a mandate to buy new voting machines that fall outside any cost-containment strategy.

As such they bit the proverbial bullet and raised taxes to an unheard-of level, in order to pare down what Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites termed $4.7 million in accumulated debt. That plan earmarked $1.3 million toward that end in 2005, but left $3.4 million for paydown in future years based on fiscal knowledge available at the time.

Since then we assume – and sincerely hope, for the benefit of us all – that last year’s accounting wrinkles are ironed out, and the commissioners are getting timely and accurate reports from the county controller’s office. Armed with that critical information, they shouldn’t be fumbling around in the dark as the case appeared to be last year. Also, ending the longstanding smoke-and-mirrors practice of year-end borrowing from certain funds to cover budget shortfalls was a sound step in the right direction.

But none of that erases the fact that property owners got socked with an unprecedented county tax increase last year. The commissioners should strive to lessen that burden.