Henry County sets property tax rates as pay compensation debate eases

The Henry County Commission's property tax agreement on Monday could lead to more competitive pay for the south metro community’s police department.

Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC

Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC

The Henry County Commission's property tax agreement on Monday could lead to more competitive pay for the south metro community’s police department.

The Henry County Commission on Monday passed a millage rate for property taxes, a little more than a week after the board failed to pass the legislation because of concerns over worker compensation.

In a 4-2 vote, the board set the millage rate at 12.73 mills, which the county estimates will bring in about $87.7 million in property taxes in fiscal 2019.

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The passage will allow Henry to set aside about $4 million to boost worker pay and get county salaries for engineers and highway maintenance crews closer to those paid in neighboring communities.

Henry is one of several metro Atlanta counties that have undertaken compensation studies to make wages more competitive and to stem worker losses. Henry says it will have results of its study later in the month.

“We have a number of vacancies that we can’t fill because our salaries are too low,” County Manager Cheri Hobson-Matthews told the board during the meeting.