Cedartown decreases millage rate for this year’s tax bills

Cedartown’s commission approved the proposed 2017 millage rate of 11.201 “which is slightly lower than last year’s 11.286,” said city manager Bill Fann.

The new rate was met with unanimous approval during their Sept. 18 make-up date for their regular monthly meeting, but commissioner Larry Odom mentioned that “eventually we’ll have to raise the millage rate. It’s just something that’s going to happen.”

Millage rate is used to determine taxes owed by property owners by multiplying the approved millage rate by the taxable value of a property. School boards use millage rate to determine local school taxes to be collected based on total property value within school district boundaries. In the past years, Cedartown has been slightly reducing the overall millage rate each year with their rollbacks.

In 2015, the rate dropped only slightly based on the 11.309 mills set in 2016 at 11.268, and going back to 2012 only a decrease of .054 mills overall.

This year’s decrease in the millage rate comes along with good news: no budgeted loss of revenue for 2017 tax-year collections.

“There was enough change in the digest that it adds about $8,800,” said Fann.

He said that an increase in building locally and in new business developments has helped make the millage rate lower this year but still bring in more money, but that taxpayers shouldn’t count on that as a long term trend.

“Sometimes with change comes increased costs. What you’re hoping for is a balance that saves taxpayers money,” Fann said. “So that’s what we’re hoping for.”