Evans County Board of Education Intends to Adopt a Millage Rate of 14 Mills
Tax Increase of 1.66% needed to secure school district’s equalization funding
August 23, 2023: The Evans County Board of Education today announces its intention to increase the property taxes it will levy this year by .228 over the rollback millage rate, resulting in a 1.66% property tax increase. In accordance with Georgia Code 20-2-165, boards of education must maintain an equivalent millage rate of at least 14 mills to prevent a loss of their state equalization grant funding. Currently, Evans County Schools’ state equalization grant funding totals $1,694,252.
The effects of this tax increase can be seen in the chart below. For example, an individual with property valued at $100,000 would see an annual increase of $9.12 per year. An individual with property valued at $250,000 would see an annual increase of $22.80.
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 or decrease 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.
Due to the reassessment of property values in Evans County, the rollback millage rate required by Georgia law would cause Evans County Schools’ millage rate to fall below 14 mills, thus causing loss of the school district’s equalization funding. Therefore, the Evans County Board of Education intends to adopt a millage rate that is 14 mills to secure the school district’s equalization funding.
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 Evans County Board of Education Central Office, 705 West Main Street, Claxton, GA 30417 on Thursday, August 31, 2023, at 10:00 am, on Thursday, September 7, 2023, at 6:00 pm, and then again on Monday, September 11, 2023, at 5:30 pm.