DCSD to Maintain Tax Millage Rate

DCSD to Maintain Tax Millage Rate:
Property Reassessments Produce Increased Revenue

Three Millage Hearings with Public Comment Set for June 12 and June 20, 2023

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 announces its intention to increase the property taxes it will levy this year by 13.44 percentage points. The tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 23.08 mills, an increase of 2.734 mills. Without this tentative tax increase, the
millage rate will be no more than 20.346 mills.

The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $350,000 is approximately $341.75. The proposed tax increase for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $550,000 is roughly $546.80.

Each year, the Board of Tax Assessors must 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 indicates increases in the fair market value of any specific property, the board of tax assessors must redetermine 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 be computed to produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have made no reassessments occur.

To be tentatively adopted by the DeKalb County Board of Education, the budget 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 allow the public to express their opinions on the increase.

Accordingly, all citizens are invited to three millage hearings on this tax increase. Two in-person meetings will be held at the Administrative and Instructional Complex at 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard in Stone Mountain. A virtual meeting will also be held. The deadline and methods to register to speak at the meetings are listed below.

Details on how to speak in the public hearing by virtual technology will also be made available on the District’s website before the time of the hearing at: www.dekalbschoolsga.org

Citizens can also send comments and questions to:
DeKalb County School District Finance Office – Budget Information
1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard
Stone Mountain, Georgia 30083