2012 property tax bills on the way to your mail box

Media release: The 2012 property tax bills are in the mail for all Floyd County, City of Rome and Cave Spring taxpayers, according to Floyd County Tax Commissioner Kevin Payne. The deadline to pay property taxes will be Nov. 15

 ^{The majority of Floyd County residents will see their tax bills drop from the 2011 levels. The Millage rate for Floyd County and the City of Rome residents did drop to 29.888 mils and 35.117 mils respectively (1 mil = $1 per $1000 of assessed value). This was due to the reduction in the State portion of all property tax bills. Assessments have dropped for most residents in the county, which will result in smaller tax bills.}

A Floyd County resident with a $100,000 house would pay approximately $1,195.52 without exemptions. The same house in the City of Rome would pay $1,404.68. 62% of taxes for Floyd County residents go to the Floyd County Board of Education and 66% of City taxes go to the Rome City Board of education. The remaining portion would go to the Rome and Floyd County Governments, besides a very small portion that goes to the State of Georgia.

The tax office will be mailing 57,855 tax bills, with 8,502 being personal property and the other 49,353 being real property. 41,437 properties are considered residential properties, with rest being either commercial property or vacant land. In Floyd County there are 19,376 homestead properties and the City of Rome has 5,691 homestead properties. A homestead property is one that a person owns and lives in on January 1st of 2011 and is eligible for homestead tax exemptions.

The tax office accepts payments online, by mail, or in person at the historic courthouse on 5th Ave downtown. Customers may pay with cash, checks, or credit/debit cards. All credit/debit card payments, either in the office or online, will be charged a convenience fee of 2.2% plus 30 cents a transaction.

Commissioner Payne would like to remind all taxpayers that partial payments are always accepted, beginning today. "If anyone is concerned about having the lump sum payment in November, I would strongly recommend partial payments each month starting now", stated Payne. By law, once a bill becomes delinquent on November 16th, 1% interest must be added each month, calculated from the original base amount of the tax. This is followed by a 10% penalty 90 days after the due date. "Paying your property taxes late is a very expensive proposition in Georgia, and I have no authority to waive interest or penalties", added Payne.

Floyd County's tax collection rate has remained high, even though we are experiencing a severe economic downturn. The current collection rates for the last 4 years are as follows: 2011 = 96.03%, 2010 = 98.13%, 2009 = 99.35%, 2008 = 99.75%. "The last several years of declining economic activity have certainly been felt in our office. We see the effects, as many taxpayers are struggling just to make ends meet. The worst thing any taxpayer can do is to ignore their property tax bill. Even small, partial payments show us that you are working toward keeping your account current", added Payne.

Payments can be mailed to: Floyd County Tax Commissioner at P.O. Box 26, Rome, GA. 30162, or online at www.floydcountytax.com. Otherwise taxpayers can pay in person at the historic courthouse at 4 Government Plaza. For questions about your tax bill, please call our office at 706-291-5148 or email Kevin Payne at paynek@floydcountyga.org.