Countywide taxes down 13% this year

Madison County property owners can expect their tax bills in the mail this week.

And this year’s property tax payment deadline will be Dec. 20.

Meanwhile, Madison County government entities are planning to make do with less in 2013, as property tax revenues will be down $2.6 million among all of the county’s tax-levying government bodies, including the county government, school system, industrial authority and cities.

Combined, all of the governmental agencies in Madison County collected $19.7 million in 2011, while this year’s local property tax revenues are projected at $17.1 million, a drop of 13.4 percent. Those numbers were taken from each group’s five-year tax history advertised in this newspaper in recent weeks.

The revenue decline is due to the decrease in local property values. For instance, the school system saw its overall real and personal digest (its overall county property value) decrease from $733 million in 2011 to $636 million this year, a drop of just over 13 percent.


The school system will see the biggest decline in property tax revenue — from $11.4 million to $9.8 million. The county government will also collect 13 percent less in taxes, a $1 million drop from $7.5 to $6.5 million. The industrial authority will take in $57,865 less in taxes, a decrease of 9.9 percent from $637,609 to $579,744.

These three government entities account for 98.7 percent of all taxes collected in Madison County. The five tax-collecting cities — Hull doesn’t levy property taxes — will take in a combined $229,026 in 2012.

Comer takes in the most with $96,374 in projected revenue for 2012, down 3.9 percent from last year. Danielsville will see a 13.6 percent drop to $62,666 in revenue for this year. Colbert will take in $34,065, an 8.9 percent decrease. Carlton will collect $9,622, down $973 from last year, while Ila, whose tax digest actually increased slightly, will see a revenue increase of $509 (two percent) to $26,299.

While the county’s overall tax collections will be down, some individual property owners could actually pay more this year. Individual tax bills vary based on how their specific property is assessed.