Life comes at you fast. Most of it is just smoke and mirrors. We're here to clear the air. Whether
it's the can't make this up moments or the hard truths hitting our streets in our state,
we're finding the signal in all that noise. No spin, no nonsense, just the facts, the fallout,
and the rain, and the rain.
Tiff, and the rain.
We received our 2026 notice of assessment for property tax. And property tax is one of those
hot button issues for a lot of folks. You can go back about two years now, somewhere between two and
three years. I have to go back and three years, and three years. I have to go back and look through the archives. I have to go back and look through the archives. And let me tell you, there were a lot of pissed off people. For starters, the county had not performed a reassessment in something like
20 years. And I had to go back, and I have to go back. I have to go back. And I had to go back. And I have to go back. And I have to go back. And I have to go back. And I have to go back and look through the far. And I have to go back and look through the whole.
the books for the properties here in Tiff County no longer matched, I guess, the national
average or the state average or something like that, because this is a state mandated
thing.
So let's say it's the state average.
And so Tiff County hired this third party company to essentially go around and reassess
all the properties.
And unfortunately, it seemed like if they could not do a thorough assessment, they made
some assumptions.
And you know what they say about assuming and they would go by some norms like the type
of roof that the house had and windows and various other little factors.
I think they even may have used drones a little bit because if they couldn't gain access to
the property, then that's what they did.
And there were some people out there that their property values doubled and tripled.
And they could have had a lot of people out there.
and they could have had a lot of people out there.
And so it caused so much heartache, heartburn and consternation that the appeal process took
so damn long that instead of the property taxes being paid, I think, by November, they were
postponed until like January, February of the following year.
And the reason why I'm saying all of that is because we recently received our 2026 notice
of assessment, received it a few days ago.
And there's already chatter on the socials about how property taxes have gone up or the assessment,
the fair market value, I should say, has already gone up anywhere from 10 to $100,000, depending.
Ours personally went up about $12,000.
But what I did not know, and I had to go searching for this, normally the assessments, as I've already
pointed out, will have a breakdown of what your potential property tax bill will look like with
a dollar figure because they base it on the current millage rates, which is the reason why at the
very top of the assessments, it always said, this is not a bill because that's not your final.
You know, the city and the county and the school board can all, and they have some regulatory
requirements, too, of where they can't do certain things, like they can't decide to raise the
millage rate over a certain percentage or something like that without calling for three public hearings
on the matter.
And I got to say, the city has been pretty good at trying to say, okay, well, you know, we don't
want to kill people with the property tax increases.
So they try to adjust the millage rates, they try to adjust their budgets, you know, whatever.
This bill, this time around, though, didn't have any of that.
No dollar figure, no listing of the current millage rate for the city, the county, or the
Board of Education.
And I was like, what, what's going on here?
So I went looking it up, looking, looking for it.
And here's, here's what I found.
And I knew that there's some laws had been passed, but here's, here's the reason your 2026
Tiff County Notice of Assessment does not include an estimated property tax.
It's due to updates in Georgia law, which is tied to state legislation, such as the property
tax reform under HB 581.
Previously, assessment notices were required to estimate potential property taxes, as we said.
But this always caused widespread confusion because the county millage rates are not set until
later in the year.
The final rates set by Tiff County Board of Commissioners, the Tiff City Council, and the
Tiff County Board of Education are not voted on until late summer or fall.
The estimated tax on earlier notices frequently differed from the actual bill.
So people would get that assessment clearly stating at the top that it's not a bill, but
it was an estimate of what your property taxes could look like if they maintain the status quo
on the millage rate, which was always a possibility.
So now the county is prioritizing giving you your property's current fair market value and
your applied homestead exemption on the notice.
The math part, you're not going to see that until you get the actual official tax bill.
I'm going to presume sometime in August, September, somewhere in there.
I'm not really sure.
So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen.
If you're confused about why the assessment, we've got two things here.
We've got the issue of people being pissed off again because they haven't done a damn thing
to their home.
They haven't done any improvements whatsoever on their home, but yet their fair market value
seems to have gone up anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000.
And I say $100,000 because I've literally, my wife was reading through some of the rant and
raves and some other Facebook groups for Tiff and Tiff County.
And there's a bunch of pissed off people about this.
I mean, think about it.
This is something that you can't control.
And there's also been, because you're supposed to be able to appeal, which the appeal is kind
of funny now because, I mean, I guess the appeal has always been about you overestimated the,
you know, what my properties were, that kind of thing.
And so let's see, I'm going to pull up mine right here.
Date notice was mailed was June 12th, 2026.
You have until July 27th of this year to appeal.
It says appeals, Homestead applications or other specialized assessment applications must
be filed within 45 days from the date notice mailed.
That the, the, the, uh, yeah.
From the date notice mailed.
Now that's, they mean the headline, but there have been some complaints and some accusations
that they can't appeal.
Now I have not verified this information.
I'm getting this information second and third hand.
So take it with a grain of salt.
But there are some complaints that people are, are having that they can't even file their appeal
until after the deadline.
I don't understand that.
I don't know what information they've been given.
All I can say is that they're, they're complaining about it on the socials.
So if you had any questions about why the assessment looks a little different this time around, that's why.
They're no longer putting the estimated property tax on it due to changes in Georgia's law about property taxes.
There's also potentially coming up in the November elections that something could be on the ballot about allowing counties, municipalities, whatever, to add an additional sales tax, increase the sales tax so that it could offset the revenue that they would get from property taxes if they either reduced or completely outright abolished it.
Now, the thing that's interesting about that possibility here in Tiff County, we've already covered, I think it was last week, that they did a study that Tifton and Tiff County's sales tax revenue, over half of it comes from people who don't even live in the county or the city.
So in a strange way, if something like this were to come to pass, they could do the math, they could add another percent onto the sales tax.
So currently our sales tax is 8%, so they could, they could change it to 9%.
And essentially people who don't even live in Tiff County or the city of Tifton could be footing the bill for what would replace the property tax income.
And I think that'd be a win-win for Tiff County, the citizens of Tiff County and the city of Tifton.
I don't have a problem with that because Tiffton is kind of this nexus, you know, of I-75, Highway 82, 319, all of that.
We're in the direct path of the hurricane escape route.
Anytime Florida decides to get kicked in the nuts from a hurricane or a massive tropical storm, people head north.
They have a tendency to land here in all of the hotels and motels that we have here in Tiff County in the city of Tifton.
Not to mention you can fill up like gangbusters because we got more gas stations than we can shake a stick at.
So if they can do that, I have no problem with that.
If we could abolish property tax here in Tiff County and supplement it with an increase in the sales tax, yeah, we're going to pay a little bit more.
But that's a consumption tax and it offsets the cost from our property tax.
It offsets that revenue, I should say, that the county and the city would get from our property tax to over half of the people footing the bill don't even live in the county or the city.
I don't know.
Let me know your thoughts.
229-520-5957.
Again, the phone lines are open.
229-520-5957.
Shoot a text at that same number, 24-7, or shoot us an email, morningdrip at wrto.fm.
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We'll be back and talk soon.
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Hey, everybody.
Welcome back to The Morning Drip.
It is The Morning Drip for Thursday, the 18th of June.
Getting ready to get into the weekend.
Looks like it's going to be another wet weekend.
I put off cutting my lawn last week.
Looks like I'm not going to be able to do it this week either.
Of course, Father's Day is coming up, I think, this Sunday, right?
So, all you fathers out there, hope you have a wonderful, wonderful Sunday.
I am a father of three.
My youngest is 29.
Yeah.
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All right.
So, yesterday being Wednesday, today being Thursday, that's how calendars work, right?
Governor Kemp had called a special session of the state's congressional, of the House,
the government.
Boy, words.
I speak good English.
And basically, he did this so that they could start looking at the redistricting, which is
what every other boneheaded red state is doing.
And of course, before you jump and go, well, Democratic states are doing it too.
Yeah, as I pointed out before, the only reason why the Democratic states started doing it is
because the red states started doing it.
I don't agree with any of them doing it.
You're only supposed to do it after the census has been taken.
The next census is in 2030, but we're doing mid-census redistricting only because of one man.
But the Georgia Republican leaders said, uh-uh.
Now, it's not that it's still not a good look for them because of the reasons why they did it.
All right.
You might look at this and go, oh, they've actually got a backbone.
They've actually got some balls.
No, not really.
But they unexpectedly postponed plans to redraw the state's congressional districts,
which shelved a controversial redistricting effort just hours before a special legislative session was set to begin.
Again, Governor Brian Kemp had called the session to address redistricting following recent court rulings
that weakened parts of the Voting Rights Act, the VRA,
which created an opportunity for states to reconsider district boundaries ahead of the 2028 elections.
In other words, it allowed them to be racist.
You can challenge me on that, but anybody with half a brain can look at the districts that get wiped out in the red states
whenever they implement this type of nonsense or minority districts.
I'm just saying.
The decision came after growing concern within Republican ranks that moving forward now,
and here it comes, could create political backlash during a critical election cycle.
They didn't postpone it or stop it because it was the right thing to do.
They looked at it and went, you know, if we do this, we might be shooting ourselves in the foot come November.
Maybe we shouldn't do this right now.
Several statewide races, including the governor's race between Republican nominee Rick Jackson
and Democratic Keisha Lance Bottoms, who I've deemed KLB,
as well as the U.S. Senate race involving John Ossoff, those are on the ballot this year.
And some Republican lawmakers reportedly worried that redistricting could energize Democratic voters
and become a major campaign issue.
You know what Democratic voters need to do regardless?
We all need to be energized.
We need to be energized.
We don't need to get necessarily pissed off when something like this happens.
We need to be energized all the time.
But that's the reason why I said they weren't being magnanimous.
They looked at it and went, pardon my French, this could fuck us in November.
Hopefully, every red state that decided to do this boneheaded maneuver will get fucked in November
when it comes to the Republicans, because this should have never happened.
Again, I'm not saying that it's okay for the Democrats to do it.
The only reason why the Democrats did it was to counter the Republicans.
Neither party should have done this.
You are gerrymandering your state out the wazoo.
Gerrymandering should not be legal at all.
Which I don't think technically it is, but we get around it, you know.
State House Speaker John Burns said changes to district boundaries deserve a deliberate
and fact-driven process rather than a rushed effort.
That is probably the most succinct and positive statement that has come out of the Republicans about this.
Senate President Larry Walker III added that Republican leaders want to watch how
legal challenges to redistricting efforts in other states play out before proceeding.
See, he just laid out his cards.
He's basically like, we don't want to start all this effort and then discover that the courts are going to knock us down.
We're going to wait and see how it plays out in these other states.
And then if we get the green light, then we're going to fuck everybody in Georgia.
Don't trust them.
Again, they're not being magnanimous.
They're not doing it out of the kindness of their hearts.
They're doing it as a protective measure because they're afraid of losing their asses in November.
And rightfully so, because a large percentage of the citizens in the United States, not just here in Georgia,
but across this great nation of ours, are fed the fuck up with this current administration
and all the bullshit that has occurred since Trump took office again.
We're tired of it.
We were promised no more wars.
Look at Iran.
We were promised the Epstein files.
Everything would be blown open and exposed.
Look at how that turned out.
We were promised that current wars would be ended.
Didn't happen.
We were promised the hottest economy, more money in our pockets.
The only people that are getting rich, or I should say richer, are the uber wealthy people
that can play the shit out of the stock market right now.
And I have said it before and I will say it again.
The stock market is not the damn economy, folks.
The economy is what your lower income to middle income, middle class, which is disappearing, folks,
their spending power.
That's the economy.
That is the true economy of the United States.
And when those demographics are having trouble making ends meet because prices have escalated,
as Trump would say, like never seen before, that's the economy that we're living with.
That's the economy that we're going to vote.
That is the kitchen table issue right there.
When we go to the polls in November, it is incumbent upon all of us, whether you're a Democrat,
an Independent, or a Republican, to vote for people that are going to represent you and try
to get this great nation of ours back on track, especially when it comes to the economy.
Most of us don't give a shit about immigration.
I can tell you, we need immigration reform.
We've needed immigration reform for 50 damn years.
We do need it.
The Democrats have failed.
The Republicans, look at what they're doing.
You might as well just think you're living in 1930s Germany.
The economy is the biggest issue I see that most people in America that aren't uber wealthy,
that aren't named Elon Musk, that aren't named Jeff Bezos, that aren't named Donald Trump
or the entire Trump family.
The economy is what we care about.
Those other rich fuckers, they don't pay attention to when gas is over $4 a gallon.
They don't care.
They don't have to care.
They make that in a nanosecond every single day.
So they have a, you know, again, this did not come from the kindness of their hearts.
They realized that if they did pursue this, that they would definitely get screwed in November.
And there's still a high probability that they're going to lose their asses anyway.
And I hope they do, quite honestly.
I hope they do.
The other thing now that they've got to worry about, as far as the state of Georgia
is concerned, is they got to figure out this thing with the QR code.
Because as we talked about previously, effective July 1st, the state of Georgia, our current
voting machines, which are all electronic, the QR codes that are printed on those things cannot
be used for the final tabulation and certification of the elections.
But they don't have any other alternative right now.
And all of the information is conflicting.
You got the Secretary of State saying one thing.
You've got the voting board saying another.
So they've got to come to some kind of resolution quickly because it's the 18th of June.
July 1 is fastly approaching.
So let me know your thoughts.
Phone lines are open.
2-2-9-5-2-0-5-9-5-7.
Or if you don't want to speak, hey, that's fine.
Just send me a text.
2-2-9-5-2-0-5-9-5-7.
Or you can shoot us an email.
Email address is morningdrip at wrto.fm.
We're going to take another short break, pay some bills, all that kind of good stuff.
And then we'll be back with you shortly.
I asked for a car.
I got a computer.
How's that for being born under a bad sign?
This is wrto.fm, Radio Free Georgia.
Broadcasting from the Tifton Media Work Studios in Tifton, Georgia.
Hey, good morning, everybody.
Welcome back to the morning drip for Thursday, June 18th, 2026.
Little station ID there.
Probably noticed that was Ferris Bueller from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
I hope you are doing well this morning.
We got one more story before we get you on your way.
So you've got very limited time if you want to call in because once the show is over, the
phone lines go dark, but you can still text us 24-7 at that same number, 229-5-2-0-5-9-5-7.
Or you can shoot us an email, morningdrip at wrto.fm.
All right, final story of the show.
I thought I'd end on a lighter note, somewhat lighter.
Get off the political stuff.
Researchers are exploring a provocative theory.
Smartphones may have played a significant role in declining birth rates around the world.
A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that the introduction
of Apple's iPhone and the smartphone era that followed may have accelerated the decline in
U.S.
fertility rates after 2007.
By comparing birth rates in counties with early AT&T mobile broadband coverage, the exclusive
carrier for the iPhone at launch.
Remember that?
Which put a lot of us out because AT&T service in this area sucked.
I mean, when I got my first iPhone, it was iPhone 3GS, I believe.
I actually, for it to work at my house, had to buy, I had to go to Albany to the AT&T store
and buy what was known then as the Femta cell, what they eventually rebranded it as an extender.
But it essentially put a little mini cellular tower in your home that connected to your network
and then converted everything over into a data connection back to AT&T's head in, if you will.
Nowadays, everybody's got Wi-Fi pretty much in their home and our phones support what's called Wi-Fi calling.
So as long as you have a, like right here where I live, even Verizon signal sucks.
And I'm on Visible, which uses Verizon, but it still sucks.
So all my devices are on Wi-Fi calling.
And if I go into a client where, you know, I'm on their Wi-Fi network, I still use Wi-Fi calling.
But yeah, the original iPhone was an AT&T exclusive.
Most of us forget that.
Not those of us who work in the industry, in the tech industry.
We don't forget that, but yeah.
Oh my God.
So they compared birth rates in counties with early AT&T mobile broadband coverage.
Again, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone at launch.
To counties with less coverage.
And the researchers estimate that smartphones may account for as much as half of the U.S. fertility decline between 07 and 2011.
There are several explanations that have been proposed.
Smartphones and social media may have reduced face-to-face social interaction.
Yeah, it's kind of hard to screw if you're not face-to-face.
Leading to fewer romantic and sexual encounters.
Easier access to online pornography may have substituted for some sexual activity.
While smartphones also made information about contraception and reproductive health more accessible.
Potentially reducing unintended pregnancies.
Which is a good thing.
The effects appeared strongest among younger people.
Particularly members of Generation Z, known as Zoomers, who grew up with smartphones as a constant presence.
There was a separate study from the University of Cincinnati that found a similar pattern across 128 countries.
It's linking the spread of mobile, broadband, and smartphones to falling teen birth rates worldwide.
However, as you do, researchers caution that these studies show correlation rather than a definitive proof of causation.
That's something a lot of people struggle with.
You can correlate something.
It happened during, you know, this thing happened and the result was this other thing was also happening.
That's called correlation.
Causation is when the other thing happened and caused the first thing.
So, this shows correlation, but not hardcore proof.
See what I did there?
Of causation.
Economic pressures, changing social norms, delayed marriage.
Increased educational opportunities, and broader cultural shifts all remain major contributors to declining birth rates.
The smartphone may just be one piece of a much larger demographic puzzle, rather than the sole explanation for the global, quote, baby bust.
Yeah, education is also a big part of that, especially when it comes to women.
You can look at the statistics over the last 20 years, I believe, and you can see that more women,
are going to college or getting a degree than men.
And an educated woman is less likely to jump in the sack without proper protection because she doesn't need a baby screwing up the plans for her life.
Now, unless, and I'm not saying this for every educated, degreed woman.
I'm not saying that that's true for all of them.
Some of them get the degree, but want to have it all.
So, they want to have the baby.
They want to have the career.
They want to have the husband.
Or they could, you know, they could be gay.
And they wind up, you know, having another woman as a significant other.
I'm not judging.
I'm cool with that.
It's not, you know, there's nothing wrong with that is what I'm saying.
Before I paint myself into a corner and people, people that know me are going,
what do you mean?
Are you, no, I don't care who you love.
I don't care who you marry.
Gay rights are human rights.
All right.
We're all human.
We all love who we love.
The heart wants what the heart wants.
But the point that I was making was the fact that, yeah, there are some women that want it all.
They want the, they want the career.
They want the family.
Okay.
That's fine.
But I think, and I'm not stating this as fact, but I think if you go and look at the statistics,
there's a higher percentage of educated women who have decided not to get married,
postpone getting married, and definitely postpone having children.
Now, that's kind of an offshoot from the whole smartphone thing.
But again, correlation, not causation.
I don't know.
What do you think?
We're about to end the show, so you can text me at 229-520-5957.
Again, that's 229-520-5957, 24-7, or you can email the show, morningdrip at wrto.fm.
Let me know your thoughts on what do you think about the smartphone theory that has led to
the global baby bust redistricting here, right here in the state of Georgia.
What do you think about that?
And did you have questions?
If you live here in Tifton, Tiff County, did you have questions when you got that assessment
about your property tax?
Was it confusing?
It was confusing to me.
And I like to think that I'm smarter than the average bear.
Maybe not the average human, but at least the average bear.
All right, folks, that's going to be it for me for this week.
Thank you if you joined us live on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
We try to start the show around 730 in the morning.
It's kind of a moving target, but usually no later than 740.
And if you didn't get an opportunity to listen to the broadcast live, don't you worry.
It gets converted to a podcast right at morningdrip.show.
Go grab it.
It's free for seven days.
And then just for a measly $7 a month, you get access to the back catalog of the morning drip.
And there are other shows over there, too, at tiftonmediaworks.com.
All right, folks, I hope you have a fantastic Thursday, Friday, Father's Day weekend.
Take care of yourselves.
Love, kiss, and hug your loved ones.
And we'll see you next Tuesday right here on the morning drip.
Good morning, everybody.