School Board Announces Proposed Property Tax Increase
In a press release issued yesterday afternoon, June 19, The Stephens County School System announced its intentions to increase the 2024 property taxes it will levy this year by 4.87 percent over the rollback millage rate.
The rollback rate is 14.074 mils; the school system is proposing to leave the millage rate unchanged from the current-year millage rate of 14.76 mils; resulting in an estimated 4.87 percent increase in property taxes levied in the coming year than was levied by the school district in the current year.
Below is the full copy of the press release:
School Board Announces Proposed Property Tax Increase
Toccoa, GA – The Stephens County Board of Education announces its intentions to increase the 2024 property taxes it will levy this year by 4.87 percent over the rollback millage rate.
Each year, the board of tax assessors is required to review the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable property in the county. When the trend of prices on properties that have recently sold in the county indicate there has been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property, the board of tax assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of such property and adjust the assessment. This is called a reassessment.
When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires a rollback millage rate be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessment occurred.
The budget tentatively adopted by the Stephens County Board of Education requires a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate; therefore, before the Stephens County Board of Education may finalize the tentative budget and set a final millage rate, Georgia law requires three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase.
All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the Stephens County Board of Education Administrative Office; 191 Big A School Road, Toccoa, GA 30577, on Thursday, July 11, 2024, at 5:15 PM; Tuesday, July 16, 2024, at 6:00 PM, and Thursday, July 18, 2024, at 7:30 AM.