Chickamauga school board proposes property tax hike
The Chickamauga City Board of Education Aug. 11 announced its intention to increase the 2021 property taxes it will levy this year by 9.32% over the rollback millage rate.
“The tax increase due to the reassessment is minimal, approximately $4 per month for a home with a fair market value of $100,000,” Chickamauga City Schools Superintendent Melody Day said.
The school chief stressed the increase is not an increase in the millage (property tax) rate and has nothing to do with any need within the school system. The increase is “solely for the purpose of meeting state law and will result in over $1.2 million dollars in funding from the state to the school system,” she said.
The board of tax assessors is required to review the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable property in the city. When the trend of prices on properties that have recently sold in the city 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.
“Recent reassessment of property in Chickamauga resulted in increased values of many properties in the city,” Day said. “This is a positive indicator for the city digest and means the same tax rate will actually bring more money into the school system.
“However, even though the millage rate will remain at 14.25 mills, this is considered a tax increase, due to the fact that more money will be collected,” she
said. The millage rate has been 14.25 mills since 2015.
When the total digest (list of taxable property within the district) 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.
“In 2015, the state made changes to Georgia law requiring school systems to increase the effective millage rate or lose equalization funding,” Day said. “At that time the millage rate for the city of Chickamauga was 12 mills and had been since 2010.
“It was necessary to increase the millage to 14.25 mills to continue receiving equalization funding from the state,” she explained. “The Chickamauga City School System will receive in excess of $1.2 million in equalization funding this school year and must ensure the millage rate meets the state requirement to maintain this state funding.”
Before the Chickamauga City Board of Education recommends a final millage rate, Georgia law requires three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase.
All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the Chickamauga City Board of Education Central Office, 402 Cove Road, Chickamauga, on Thursday, Aug. 26, at noon and 6 p.m. and on Monday, Aug. 30, at noon.