HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — We've been keeping up with concerns about people's property reassessments in Houston County and how it impacts the bottom line.
Since your property tax plays a big role in city and county yearly budgets, we were asked why the Houston County budget seems to be increasing at a faster rate than inflation.
Overall the county is planning for an $81.3 million budget in 2025.
A viewer wrote in saying that Houston County's budget increased faster than inflation from 2020 to 2024. He says the county shouldn't use inflation as an excuse to increase property values.
THE QUESTION
Is Houston County's budget rising faster than inflation?
THE SOURCES
- Dan Perdue, Houston County Chairman
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics
- The Houston County, Paulding County and Macon-Bibb County government websites
THE ANSWER
Yes, Houston County's budget has increased faster than the rate of inflation
WHAT WE FOUND
In 2025, the county is spending nearly half of its budget on public safety. Perdue says they hope to recruit and retain more employees, give out merit bonuses, and provide better services for the county jail. He says they want to upgrade healthcare in the jail and need more money to spend on inmate meals.
"It's a budget we're proud of. We really pride ourselves on efficient and effective operations in Houston County," County Chairman Dan Perdue said.
But like consumers, Houston County is feeling inflation too.
"We're doing our best to keep up with the market pressures," Perdue said.
With it, the county continues to see spending grow
"When you look at our per capita spending in Houston County it has grown. It's grown by 25%," he said.
We looked at the five years that the viewer questioned. In 2020, the budget was set at $59.2 million and at $75 million in 2024. That's a 26% spending increase.
Then we compared that growth to the inflation rate.
"In that same time of that time span the compound inflation rate is about 27%," Perdue said.
Perdue sent us a spreadsheet made up by his office, starting in 2018. They compared growth to the rate of inflation, which was 27%. They say 25% growth is in line with 27% inflation.
We did the comparison a bit different. We looked at the federal online inflation calculator. From April 2019 to April 2024, the federal government says inflation rose 22% in five years.
Comparing the 26% growth in Houston County's budget to the 22% inflation rate allows us to say the budget is increasing at a faster rate than inflation.
We used that same math to compare to two other counties.
"Yes, we're seeing that county governments, local governments, and governments of all sizes, their budgets are continuing to grow," Perdue said.
We looked at Paulding County, where the population is closest to Houston. Between 2020-2024 their budget increased by 42%.
We also looked at Macon-Bibb County. Between those same years, the budget increased by 29%. These numbers show that other county's budgets are rising at a quicker rate as well.
Folks in Houston County have until July 1 to appeal their new property values. Perdue says they plan to roll back the county millage rate so that most people won't see higher tax bills.
Perdue says state auditors say Houston County's property values aren't keeping up with rising sale prices, and that will cost the county state aid unless they fix it. This is why you may have seen a drastic change in your reassessments.
You can file an appeal online or at the county tax assessor's office in Perry.