City Proposes Same Millage Rate As Last Three Years

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The City of Trenton Board of Commissioners held the first of three public millage rate hearings at 10 a.m. on Sept. 12. The second hearing was at 6 p.m. that evening, and the third is this week, Thursday, Sept. 19, at 6 p.m. After the third hearing, the board will vote on the millage rate.

Nothing much of note occurred at the very short first hearing. Alex Case (mayor) and the commissioners noted that they are amazed at how strong local sales tax revenue has been in recent years. Mike Norris (police commissioner) was absent.

The city will also hold a budget workshop on Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. They plan to vote on the budget at the regularly scheduled Oct. 14 meeting.

The city runs on a different schedule than the county government: For a given calendar year, the budget is established before the year starts, the millage rate is set early in the fall, and taxes are collected by the end of the calendar year. Therefore, the millage rate to be voted on this week is for FY24, but the budget to be voted on in October is for FY25.

Like the county, the city is required by Georgia law to publish a notice of a “tax increase” due to the proposed millage rate of 4.498 being higher than the rollback rate of 4.442.

This rate of 4.498 will result in the city collecting $23,721 more in property tax revenue than last year, a 4.43 percent increase in revenue. The millage rate will result in property tax revenue of $559,577.

The city’s FY23 total budget was $2,049,000, with only 3.82 percent ($535,856) coming from property taxes.