Community Corner
Douglasville Plans To Maintain Current Millage Rate
The Douglasville City Council will hold the first of three required public hearings on Aug. 27 at 11 a.m., to discuss the millage rate.
Post Date:08/20/2020 4:00 PM
The Douglasville City Council will hold the first of three required public hearings on August 27 at 11 a.m. to discuss the city millage rate.
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The overall millage rate is comprised of the Maintenance and Operation (M&O) rate and the Bond rate for the Public Safety building. The proposed M&O rate for 2020 will remain at 7.211 mills, which is the same rate as 2019. The City of Douglasville was able to lower the Bond millage from 1.12 mills down to 1.068 mills, reducing the city’s overall proposed millage rate from 8.331 mills to 8.279 mills.
The State of Georgia requires that municipalities advertise only the M&O rate, however. Even though the city has proposed to maintain its M&O rate of 7.211 mills, it may appear as a tax increase due to rising property values within the city limits.
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With the millage rate remaining at 7.211 mills, the property tax bill assessed to a home with a fair market value of $200,000 will increase by approximately $71 for the year, for example.
“I see this as a very positive sign,” added Mayor Rochelle Robinson, “increasing property values signify strong economic growth. The city is also committed to making strategic financial decisions to help support this growth as well as provide quality sustainable service to our citizens.”
The City of Douglasville has not raised its millage rate since 2015, when renegotiations with Douglas County for fire and animal control services resulted in a $1.8 million increase to the annual budget.
“We never make millage rate decisions hastily,” Finance Committee Chairman Mark Adams stated, “this pandemic has hit our citizens quite hard. We couldn’t, in good faith, increase the millage and create further hardship on them moving forward.”
Most city revenues have seen a shortfall during calendar year 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Municipal court fees have declined, and business license fees are anticipated to decline due to the pandemic as well.
The travel industry has been hit hardest resulting in a significant decrease in the city’s hotel/motel tax revenues. Deciding to not roll back the M&O millage rate this year, coupled with rising property values, will help offset some of the lost revenue.
The City of Douglasville receives the property tax digest after it plans and adopts its annual budget, which city officials began preparing back in February. This early planning allowed adjustments to be made when effects of the outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in early March. All budget items that weren’t immediate needs for the city were removed. These items include capital investments, personnel recruitment, and furloughs in departments that suspended services due to the effects of COVID-19.
The city’s 2021 fiscal year began in July 2020 and has used $3.5 million of reserve funds to maintain operations. Also known as its “rainy day fund”, the city still has approximately four months’ worth of reserve funds remaining.
The first and second required public hearings will take place on August 27 at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. The final public hearing is at 5 p.m. on September 3 and a special-called meeting to adopt the millage rate is at 5:30 p.m. All public hearings and special-called meetings will take place at the Douglasville Conference Center located at 6700 Church Street in downtown Douglasville.
Notice-of-Property-Tax-Increase 2020
This press release was produced by the City of Douglasville. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
