Fulton Public Schools patrons saw a bit of a break on their property taxes this year.
Due to a difference between the estimated assessed valuation - on which the district bases its tax rate each year - and the actual assessed valuation, the school ended up receiving more than $400,000 in tax revenues over what it should have received last year.
"The district has to take that overage and treat it as a negative adjustment in the tax rate for the next year," said district auditor Jim McGinnis, who made note of the situation during his annual audit report to the board last week. "The tax rate is actually lowered the next year for the difference ... it all works itself out."
The school district sets its tax levy each year based on assessed valuation numbers generated by the county. Occasionally, the estimate provided when the levy is set in August does not match the actual assessment calculated later in the year. The numbers did not match in 2013, resulting in local residents paying too much to Fulton Public Schools. McGinnis explained that rather than a physical refund, the discrepancy is made up the following year.
"The assessor gives the district a preliminary estimate, and the district has to create a tax levy based on that estimate," he said. "The 2013 tax rate was calculated on a number that was too high, and the 2014 (tax rate) has to come down that same amount."
According to McGinnis, although the adjustment amount in this instance is higher than usual, this is not an uncommon situation. He emphasized that neither the county nor the school district did anything wrong, it is simply a result of having to rely on projected numbers to set the tax levy.
"I'm not making any judgment on the assessor or the district," McGinnis said. "The whole process is an estimation."