BALDWIN, Ga. — Baldwin residents continued to push back Monday against a proposed property tax increase as the city council held its second public hearing on the 2025 millage rate.
The council is currently considering three tax hike options: 11.273 mills in Habersham County (a 22% increase) and 7.003 mills in Banks County (a 48% increase) without new staff; 11.880 mills in Habersham and 7.610 mills in Banks with the addition of a finance director and part-time social media coordinator; and 12.045 mills in Habersham and 7.75 mills in Banks with those positions plus animal control.
Former mayor and current council candidate Joe Elam criticized the council for considering these options without considering a rollback.
“A vote for any of these options on this paper represents your disconnect from your citizens,” Elam said. “It’s usually traditional for the mayor or for the staff to present the options so council has the understanding of what the option is to even tax dollars to their taxpayers.”
Resident Doug Faust said the city’s reliance on reserves in prior years created the need for a tax increase.
“It’s a tough situation,” Faust said. “I know the council has gone through a few years of high expenses and inflationary spending. You were using a fund balance to offset costs, and what that did was create a false situation where now we have to raise taxes to catch up. To roll things back citizens have to agree to roll back services and I don’t think they want to do that. A finance director would be a great position for the city because we all need to know what’s going on with the budget. I’m willing to pay to keep our quality services.”
Additional positions to city budget
The council later approved creating a finance director position for the fiscal year 2026 budget, but rejected adding a proposed part-time social media coordinator. The $10,000 role would have handled Facebook posts, website updates, and a new public notification system. Residents and some council members argued those duties could be managed in-house.
Animal control
Baldwin’s Chief Administrative Officer Emily Woodmaster received a letter from Habersham County manager Tim Sims stating that Baldwin’s price for Animal Control Services for the city of Baldwin would be about $1400 less than the $21000 a year the city originally budgeted for.
Since the animal control issue was added to the agenda, several residents spoke on the lack of animal control services they are currently receiving from Habersham County. The most vocal came from Baldwin resident Laura Rose who indicated that a dog recently tried to attack her mother on her property, and after several attempts at calling the county nothing was done about it.
“We have to keep the community safe,” Rose said. “If one of these dogs were to attack a child, we’d have a real problem on our hands. We don’t need lip service, we need actual services.”
Woodmaster stated she would recommend $20,000 to be placed in the budget for animal control services, but after hearing from several members of the community, Councilwoman Alice Venter pushed back.
“So how do you council members feel about adding this, knowing that it’s a substandard service, right?” Venter asked.
Venter then stated that she believed the council should have more discussions with the county before voting on this. However, due to the date needed to advertise the tax levy, Woodmaster said that would be a bit tricky.
“If you decide against it now and want to add it back later, you will either have to fund it immediately, using whatever funding source you might have, or use your general fund,” Woodmaster said.
Woodmaster felt it would be easier to approve it for the tax levy purposes before negotiating with the county.
“I do think that before you agree to engage in the service again and fund it, those conversations need to be had,” Woodmaster said. “There is an issue with the services being provided, and we are paying for the service.”
Venter agreed, “I mean, there’s definitely more conversation that needs to happen. Why? Why would we pay for that?”
Banks IGA
The council also ratified an intergovernmental agreement with Banks County regarding the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST). If approved by voters in November, the measure could roll back Baldwin’s millage rate entirely in Banks County beginning in 2026, with anticipated collections of $260,000 in the first year and $340,000 by 2030.
The final public hearing on the millage rate is expected in early October.
