Barrow budget faces $4 million funding gap as property values plunge 15 percent

Though preliminary work on the county’s budget for fiscal year 2013 was a closed affair until Tuesday, CFO Rose Kisaalita over the past several days has complied with the Georgia Open Records Act by promptly providing the newspaper with copies of requested documents. Based on the newspaper’s preliminary analysis of spreadsheets, it appears that the county at this point is facing a $4 million gap between projected revenues and requested expenditures. Cecil Highfield, the county’s chief appraiser, says property values countywide plummeted more than 15 percent this year.

“The real number on the real property values — which includes Residential homes and land, Commercial improvements and land, Industrial improvements and land, Agriculture land and improvements, and land in Conservation Use — went down 15.19 from the 2011 fair market values to the 2012 fair market values,” he said. “This is the total of all of the real property values when comparing the 2011 digest and the 2012 digest.”

For the full story, read the Barrow Journal's July 18 edition.