Here’s how Columbus property tax delay is expected to affect MCSD

Muscogee County School District chief financial officer Theresa Thornton assured the Muscogee County School Board that MCSD “will remain solvent” despite the Columbus Consolidated Government’s four-week delay in sending property owners tax notices this year, because of the Muscogee County Board of Assessors’ conversion to new computer software.

During the school board’s monthly meeting Monday night, Thornton explained how MCSD plans to handle the potential for property tax revenue to be slowed by as much as two months because of the tax office’s revised schedule.

Normally, property owners are sent tax notices June 1 and tax bills Aug. 1, with the first installment due Oct. 1 and the final installment due Dec 1. But this year, tax notices will be issued June 30, tax bills will be mailed Oct. 1, and only one installment will be required, due on Dec. 1. Taxpayers may still make an earlier installment, which is encouraged but not mandatory, officials have said.

John Williams, deputy chief appraiser for the Muscogee County Board of Assessors, presented the schedule change to Columbus Council last week. He made a similar presentation to the school board Monday night.

The delay is a bigger issue for the school board than the city council because MCSD receives a larger percentage of the Columbus property tax revenue than CCG, approximately a 60-40 split, and 41 percent of MCSD’s fiscal year 2018 revenue is expected to come from local property taxes while the figure is 31 percent for CCG.

Thornton outlined MCSD’s response to the delay this way:

▪ Provide monthly cash flow projection to the board to monitor cash receipts.

▪ More closely monitor expenditures, delaying nonessential expenditures where possible.

▪ Hold local capital expenditures for projects that aren’t funded by the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

▪ Escalate the approval process for grant budgets, allowing the district to expedite drawdowns of grant funds.

▪ Consider short-term financing, such as a Tax Anticipation Note or a line of credit.

“The tax commissioner has been gracious in the fact that she provides to us advance payments,” Thornton said. “… If we decide to engage in any type of short-term borrowing or a Tax Anticipation Note, we would have ample funds to pay that back.”

Thornton told the board most that, historically, MCSD receives most of its revenue from local property taxes in September, but this year she expects the largest sum to come in October.

For example, in fiscal year 2016, the monthly receipts from local property taxes ranged from a low of $68,477 in June to a high of $28,221,405 in September, totaling $96,565,813 in FY 2016. The anticipated revenue from local property taxes in FY 2018, which starts July 1, is $109,988,718.

Staff writer Alva James-Johnson contributed to this report.

This story was originally published June 21, 2017 at 3:58 PM with the headline "Here’s how Columbus property tax delay is expected to affect MCSD."