The Dade County Board of Education has tentatively adopted a 2017 property tax millage rate of 15.509 mills, which is the same rate as was adopted in 2016. However, there were some property reassessments during the year in the county totaling just over $3.3 million, and the State of Georgia requires systems to either:
1) roll back the millage rate to offset the increased property taxes on those reassessed parcels; or
2) declare the higher assessments to be a tax increase and to advertise accordingly.
Leaving the millage rate the same as last year is, according to state law, a 0.9% (nine-tenths of one percent) rate increase over the “rollback” rate of 15.370 mills. If the millage rate is rolled back to the revenue-neutral rate of 15.370 mills, the system would stand to lose just over $50,000 over the current (2016) millage rate.
With the State of Georgia continuing to impose almost $225,000 in state austerity cuts upon the school system at the same time it mandates teacher raises, health insurance premium increase and retirement fund increases, the BOE believes that the additional revenue losses resulting from a millage rollback would negatively impact the quality of education for Dade’s schoolchildren. A rollback would decrease school taxes on a $100,000 home by $5.56 for the year.
The Board will hold three public meetings in the BOE meeting room on August 3, 2017, at 12 noon, again on August 3, 2017, at 6 p.m. and on August 10, 2017, at 5:30 p.m. to provide further information to the public, and the board invites and encourages the public to attend any or all of these meetings to ask questions or make public comment.
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