Final Fulton Property Tax Hike Hearing On Wednesday

The last of three public hearings on the Fulton County Commission’s proposal to raise property taxes will be held on Wednesday.

The hearing will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6 in the Assembly Hall at the Fulton County Government Center, located at 141 Pryor Street SW in Atlanta.

The public may also participate via videoconferencing from the South Fulton Service Center at 5600 Stonewall Tell Road in College Park and the North Fulton Service Center at 7741 Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.

The board will vote on the rates during its regular meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the government center.

The county was originally set to approve the 2014 millage rate last month. However, the commission decided to delay the vote and schedule three additional hearings to give the public more chances to weigh in.

The county is proposing to increase its current general fund millage rate to 11.781 mills from 10.211 mills. It’s also proposing to set its bond fund millage rate at .27 mills. If the increase is approved, a home valued at roughly $275,000 would pay an additional $140 in property taxes. A home valued at $375,000 would pay $263 more in taxes.

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 tentatively adopted by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners requires that a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate. So, Georgia law requires the county to hold three public hearings before it can finalize its budget and set its millage rate.