Alpharetta Announces 10-Percent Property Tax Hike

ALPHARETTA, GA — The fiscal year 2019 budget adopted by the Alpharetta City Council accounts for the city holding its millage rate at its current level.

Alpharetta has maintained its 5.750 millage rate since 2009 while "providing additional tax relief to citizens" through its $40,000 homestead exemption, which is among the highest exemption in Georgia, it adds.

The budget includes several key capital and operating initiatives, including:

• Funding totaling $23 million for capital investment within our city including $4.5 million for recurring/pay-as-you-go capital initiatives aimed at ensuring our infrastructure continues to be maintained to the high standards our citizenry have come to expect. Projects include milling and resurfacing of streets, traffic signalization equipment repair and maintenance, stormwater maintenance, replacement of a synthetic turf field at North Park, etc.; and
• Funding expanded Recreation, Parks & Cultural Services programs, including operations of the new Cultural Arts Center and a newly renovated and expanded Wills Park Pool; and
• Full absorption of the cost of street lighting along public roadways currently funded by private citizens (electric service, relamping, replacement, etc.).

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While the proposed millage rate is not expected to change, Alpharetta is advertising an increase in property taxes by 10.19 percent due to the impact of property reassessments. When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires the computation of a rollback millage rate 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 proposed millage rate exceeds the rollback millage rate, so before the City Council can set a final millage rate, state law requires the advertisements and for the city to hold three public hearings to the public can weigh in on the increase.

The public hearings and will be held at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. July 16 and 6:30 p.m. July 23 in the Council Chambers at Alpharetta City Hall located at 2 Park Plaza. Citizens are also encouraged to view the adopted budget on the city's website and through the financial transparency portal.

If your most recent assessment has you reeling from sticker shock, a possible change for the better could be on the horizon. Alpharetta voters in November will have a chance to approve a referendum that will return the property assessments on their homes to within a few percent of their 2016 values and limit future assessment increases to the lesser of 3 percent or the annual rate of inflation as indicated by the Consumer Price Index.

If approved, the measure would take effect in 2019 and substantially eliminate the increase in property taxes caused by the sudden spike in tax assessments this year. Alpharetta encourages all registered voters to vote in November and let your voices be heard on this important referendum.

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