What is a millage rate?

The millage rate is what you pay in taxes on your property. Each mill represents one dollar for every one thousand dollars in property value.

School system leaders and school board members work together to budget costs for school system operations each year. Property tax revenue is an important part of planning for school needs and helps the board members adopt a millage rate.

What is a roll back rate?

A roll back rate is the millage rate the school system would adopt this year to collect the same amount of property tax revenue collected last year. This year the roll back rate is 17.792 mills.

What is the recommended millage rate?

Due to a need to the fund State mandated increase in Teacher Retirement System employer contributions and an increase in the employer portion of State Health Insurance, the recommended millage rate this year is 18.74 mills. 

Why is the school system recommending this rate?

The state of Georgia expects school systems to collect the full amount of projected local property tax revenues regardless of local tax policy and exemptions. That amount is subtracted from funding the state sends our schools and school leaders are expected to set the millage rate to make up the difference and fully fund our schools. Adopting the rollback rate would not allow the school system to fund the increased cost of retirement contributions, employee health insurance, salaries, and other operational costs due to inflation. 

How the school system uses tax dollars?

We all know that rising costs are affecting school operations and your home operations, too. With your support, we are able to do the following:

• offer competitive teacher salaries that help us recruit and retain highly qualified teachers for your child’s classrooms.
• maintain safe and clean learning environments for our children.
• provide the latest textbooks and technology resources to support your child’s learning.
• fuel and service our existing transportation fleet.

Our school system knows that every dollar counts and we value your investment in our students and schools. Because of you, we are able to offer learning opportunities that help our children be college and career ready when they graduate from our schools. We thank you for your support and pledge to continue working to provide the high quality education that you expect from your public school system.

More information on the Five-Year History of the Millage Rate may be found here.