ICYMI: CSD Could Drop Millage Rate

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City Schools of Decatur may extend a measure of goodwill to taxpayers by reducing its millage rate in light of an expanded property tax digest within city limits.

As it currently sits, the millage rate for CSD is 20.5 mills. This rate could drop to as low as 18.66 mills with the 20 percent expansion of the property tax digest, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The reduction would aim to keep the school system with the same $7.9 million balance that it maintained last year.

The CSD board will vote on the millage rate on July 14, the AJC says.

The school system is hoping that city voters will approve a $75 million bond in November that would see the school system prepared for 93 percent of projected low-growth enrollment needs with a $680/year property tax increase for Decatur residents.

Residents were asked to participate in an online survey in April to help the school system gauge community opinions on how much they could ask the Decatur City Commission for in a bond referendum; a $60 million figure would cover 89 percent of the school system’s projected low-growth enrollment needs, with a $545 increase on property taxes for a home worth $500,000, while an $82 million figure would cover the entire projected need with a $744/year property tax increase.

City Schools of Decatur must also complete an environmental study on the site as it formerly contained an automobile storage site, the AJC says.