Second of three public hearings held on county millage rate increase
The second of three public hearings on the proposed county-only millage rate for FY2024 was held at the beginning of the the July 11 Stephens County Board of Commissioners meeting,
The first public hearing was held 8:30 a.m. on the 11th; no members of the public attended or spoke at the morning public hearing.
A third public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 25 prior to the expected adoption of the millage rate by the Board of Commissioners.
At yesterday’s second public hearing, County Administrator Christian Hamilton outlined the FY204 budget that commissioners recently adopted and the millage rate increase of 1.64 mills.
Local resident Tom Barnes spoke during the public hearing, saying that he understands that inflation impacts the county as well as individuals, but pointing out that many local residents are struggling, financially.
County Finance Director James Elrod responded, clarifying the millage rate increase percentage, and detailing the cuts that were made to the originally-proposed budget.
Elrod, limiting his comments to the county’s general fund, which is funded by property tax revenue, and explained that a large portion of the needed increase was prompted by unfunded state mandates.
He explained that employee cost-of-living increases, insurance and other necessary budgetary requirements added another million dollars to the budget.
Elrod said commissioners and staff went through the budget line by line to trim as much as they could from the budget, and did not use the fund balance to cover expenses in the coming fiscal year.
He then gave several examples of actual tax bill increases for homes of different assessed values, and explained that the millage rate under discussion was only the county’s rate, and did not include the school’s millage rate.
Elrod closed his response addressing the 19 percent increase, and it’s actual dollar-amount impact on taxpayers.
For more information on the county’s finances, and to access county financial records and forms, visit stephenscountyga.gov/