STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. – As Georgia law deems an increase in the property tax digest produced by the reassessments of the Board of Tax Assessors to be a tax increase if the tax millage rate is not rolled back to produce the same revenue as last year, the DeKalb County Board of Education today announces its intention to increase the property taxes it will levy this year by 4.16 percentage points over the rollback millage rate, though the millage rate will not be increased.
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 increases 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 required 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, to be tentatively adopted by the DeKalb County Board of Education, requires a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate, therefore, before the DeKalb County Board of Education may finalize the tentative budget and set a final millage rate, Georgia law requires three public hearings to be held to allow the public opportunity to express their opinions on the increase.
All concerned citizens are invited to three virtual millage hearings on this tax increase to be held Monday, July 13, 2020, at 10 a.m. and 6:01 p.m., and on Monday, July 20, 2020, at 10 a.m.
To speak in the virtual meeting, please call 678-676-0722 or email budget_info@dekalbschoolsga.org before noon on Friday, July 10, 2020. Details on how to speak in the public hearing by virtual technology will also be made available on the District’s website prior to the time of the hearing at www.dekalbschoolsga.org. Citizens can also send comments and questions to: Budget Info – Finance Office 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard, Stone Mountain, Georgia 30083.