FY 2022 Millage Rates Are Approved
By REBECCA HAZEN
News Editor
The Dade County Board of Commissioners held the last of three public hearings for the millage rate on Thursday, July 28, and held a special meeting directly after to approve the millage rate.
The incorporated millage rate is 10.5535. The unincorporated millage rate in the county is 8.000.
“I appreciate all our public officials and our constitutional officers for working with us on this,” County Executive Ted Rumley said. “I’ve said it over and over again, and it’s hard to understand it, but if you collect a percentage more than you did last year, you’ve got to advertise it as a tax increase. That’s state law.”
A millage rate is the tax rate used to calculate local property taxes. The millage rate represents the amount per every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. Assigned millage rates are multiplied by the total taxable value of the property in order to arrive at property taxes. One mill equals 1/10 of one percent. The rate represents the amount a homeowner has to pay for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.
The state of Georgia requires all local governments, e.g. county, city and school boards, including other taxing authorities such as the Industrial Development Authority, to adopt a millage rate to pay for budgeted expenses – road maintenance, teacher salaries, ambulance services, maintaining fire trucks, and other emergency services, i.e. Emergency 911, Sheriff’s Office, Courts System, etc.
In the state of Georgia, two different values are looked at to determine the millage rate. These are market value and assessed value. Market value is the current estimated amount that property can be bought or sold. Assessed value is 40 percent of market value and is used as the basis for calculating the property tax levy (bill) in Georgia.
The Dade County Board of Education’s millage rate will be set at a meeting held on Tuesday, August 2 at 6:30 p.m. More information on the millage rate and the property tax digest can be found at www.dadecounty-ga.gov/DocumentCenter and then clicking on “Millage Rate.”