The board of supervisors plan to generate almost an additional $4.7 million from property tax next fiscal year.
The board has not yet publicly discussed or shared the county’s proposed budget for FY 2027, which begins Oct. 1. Neither board president Marvell Howard, who represents District 3, nor County Administrator Wayne Carpenter would disclose budget details to The Dispatch on Tuesday, but the county has publicly advertised its proposed tax rate and revenue projections.
Carpenter said the proposed budget will be released prior to the board’s tax and budget public hearing at 8 a.m. Friday in the chancery courthouse.
“Each year, when we’re doing the preparing of the budget, we have budget requests that we need to get funded,” Howard told The Dispatch. “… I don’t think the board has actually (sat) down and decided (yet). We sort of leave that up to our comptroller and our county administrator to give us some direction on what has been requested.”
Howard said the board plans to conduct a full evaluation of the recommended budget during the public hearing.
To fund Oktibbeha County’s proposed budget, it is anticipating reducing its property tax rate by about 1 mill to 57.52 mills. However, with property values expected to rise an estimated 25% next year, primarily from a reassessment from the Mississippi Department of Revenue that raised home and commercial values, the county can drop its tax rate and still generate significantly more revenue.
What that would mean for taxpayers on average: the owner of a house now valued at $100,000 will see that value rise to about $125,000 and can expect to pay $132.80 more in county taxes next year with a homestead exemption and $199.20 more without homestead. That does not count any potential increases coming from Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District or city taxes.
In anticipation of this year’s reassessment the county held its property tax rate steady for the last two years, Howard previously told the Dispatch, causing it to supplement its budget with cash reserves. 
“(This fiscal year) we had to supplement revenue to the tune of $1.8 million for the general fund in order to balance the budget,” Carpenter told The Dispatch. “… That’s going to have to be taken into consideration. You can’t continue to do that in perpetuity, right? At some point our revenues have to coincide closer to our (spending).” 
Howard said he hopes increased revenue driven by reassessment will provide the county with “room to breathe” but he would not specify if the current proposed budget includes replenishing cash reserves. 
Carpenter and Howard both said some of the increase will defray rising costs that have strained the county’s budget over the last two years.
“I’ve got some significant concerns, you know, cost of materials that’s gone (way up),” Carpenter told The Dispatch. “… I mean it has wreaked havoc on our budget.”   
The public can provide the board feedback on the budget and mill rate during Friday’s hearing. The board will adopt its budget and property tax rate at 8 a.m. Monday during its meeting in the chancery courthouse.
			
						
						
			
      
      
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