As state government tries to cut costs in the wake of dismal revenue estimates for next fiscal year, local taxpayers should prepare to pick up the tab to the tune of hundreds of dollars on their property tax bills.

Since 1999, when the Homeowners Tax Relief Grant became law, the state has been funding an $8,000 property tax exemption for homeowners who live in their homes. Taxing entities such as local school boards, city and county governments, would include the amount on the tax bills as a credit and the state would reimburse them the money. That grant saved eligible Carroll County taxpayers more than $200 on their property tax bills last year. The exact amount depends on their local millage rate. In 2008, county property owners saved $214.80 while Carrollton property owners saved $234.72. Bowdon property owners paid the highest millage rate and saved $284.08.

In the fiscal year 2010 budget, the Legislature did not provide funds for the credit.

“Now that the money’s not going to be available at the state level, then the county either has to do without, or the taxpayer’s going to have to pay it,” said Sandra Ferguson, chief appraiser for Carroll County.

No decision has been made at the county or city level whether to drop the tax relief from the bills. Tax Commissioner Vickie Bearden said it was her understanding the issue of billing for the tax credit isn’t even up to local officials. The state’s tax commissioners were told at one of their training sessions that they had to remove the credit, she said. That takes the decision completely out of the local taxing entities’ hands. The only way the commissions and councils could prevent an increase in homeowners’ property tax bills would be to lower their millage rates and cut spending.

“Everybody’s tax bill that has (homeowners tax relief credit) will go up because they’re not getting the tax credit that the governor has given us for such a long time,” Bearden said. “We can’t keep the credit on there. I mean if they told me not to (remove it), I would check and see.”

If local agencies were to try to foot the bill it would cost local county and city taxing bodies quite a bit and in this tough economy they would be hard pressed to cover the cost. For this fiscal year, the county is scheduled to receive $4,482,104 in tax-credit funding from the state to disburse to the local taxing bodies.

“We’re struggling with the same economy that the state is,” said County Commissioner Trent North. “I think it would be hard for locals to do it because you have counties and cities already trying to cut back.”

But like other officials, he does worry that taxpayers will see their larger tax bills and assume that the local governments or schools have raised their taxes.

Mike Huckeba, Carroll County Board of Education member, is worried that because there has been no explanation by the governor the homeowners will just see the larger bill and blame local officials for something that is actually a state issue, he said.

“It’s not the school system,” Huckeba said. “It’s the governor. ... It cost the state $440 million to keep funding this, and the state, they’re in tough times, out of money.”

Still, he worries about how he and other property owners are going to pay the extra tax.

Bearden is working to get the word out to homeowners that they will have to pad their escrow accounts for the larger property tax bills.

“Most of the people do not understand what this is going to entail,” she said. “They’ve seen the credit on there for so long, and they don’t understand what the governor’s been talking about all this time, not issuing that money back to us and everything.”

Those property owners who have been taking advantage of the credit will need to put more money aside to pay their tax bills this year. Those who pay their tax bills through escrow accounts set up by their lenders should check to see if they have enough set aside. They may need to increase their monthly contributions.