The Fayette County Board of Education announces its intention to adopt the millage rate at 19.500 mills, which will effectively raise property taxes the board of education will levy this year by 9.16 percent over the rollback millage rate.

The proposed millage is a 0.250 mill decrease compared to the previous year. 

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 that a rollback millage rate must 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 reassessments occurred. 

The budget adopted by the Fayette County Board of Education requires a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate; therefore, Georgia law requires three public hearings be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the proposed increase. Increases in the FY2018 budget include a cost-of-living increase for all employees, years of service credit increases, an increase in the employer contribution rate to the Teacher’s Retirement System, and the increase in the employer portion of health insurance for classified employees. These increases total approximately $10 million. 

All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the Fayette County Board of Education building located at 210 Stonewall Avenue, Fayetteville, Georgia on August 14, 2017 at 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM, and August 21, 2017 at 6:30 PM. The millage adoption is scheduled to occur August 21, 2017 at 7:00 PM during the board meeting at the location listed above.