Christmas cheer may be in short supply for local property owners as property taxes are due Dec. 20 with many taxpayers seeing an increase in their taxes this year.

Jenkins County Tax Commissioner Brenda Mathern confirmed that, locally, “collections are slow.”

Since 1999, Georgia property owners have received about a $200-$300 credit on homeowners’ property tax bills, thanks to the Homeowners Tax Relief Grant. The Governor and Georgia General Assembly funded this credit and provided reimbursement for it to local governments. It did not change the amount of property tax owed, just reduced the amount the homeowner had to pay out of pocket.

This year, however, the Governor and Legislature did not appropriate funds for the grant due to financial strains on the state’s budget. Therefore, most property owners across the state, including those in Jenkins County, saw an approximate $200-$300 increase in their 2009 taxes, even if the local millage rates for their counties, cities and schools remained the same as the previous year.

While House Bill 143 provided that the credit could be offered again sometime in the future, the grant will only be made available if state revenues grow at least 3 percent plus the rate of inflation.

Due to a decrease of approximately $7.6 million in the local tax digest and a decrease of $58,000 in Local Option Sales Tax revenue, the Jenkins County Commissioners increased property taxes levied by the county for the 2009-2010 fiscal year by 1.36 percent. This represents a millage increase of 0.144 mil. The commissioners called attention to the fact that the county’s budget was decreased $249,000 from the previous year in an effort to deal with the loss of revenue.

The commissioners last sought a property tax increase of 2.53 percent for fiscal year 2006-2007.

Property taxes are the main source of revenue for the county to fund services such as law enforcement and fire protection, jails, courts, road department, landfill and parks and recreation facilities.