Fulton School Board: Tax Rate Expected To Remain Steady

JOHNS CREEK, GA -- In response to community concerns about 2017 property assessments mailed by the Fulton County Tax Assessor's Office, the Fulton County School Board wants to help stakeholders and residents alike better understand its millage rate process.

The school board is also hoping it can reduce any confusion between its role and the responsibilities of the tax assessor's office and the Fulton County Tax Commissioner's Office.

Each has a defined role in this process, and more information is posted on the school system’s website.

Here's the full statement from the Fulton County School Board:

The Fulton County Board of Education is aware of the community’s concerns about the 2017 property assessments that recently were mailed by the Fulton County Tax Assessor’s Office.

It is important for our stakeholders to understand that despite some property owners’ increase in projected taxes, our millage rate has not increased. In fact, our millage rate has remained the same, or lower, for the past eight years. The increases come from a change in the assessed value of the homeowner's property, which is set by the Fulton County Tax Assessor – not the school board. The Fulton County Board of Education’s role is to set a millage rate (a combined general operations and debt service rate) that serves as a guide for levying school taxes. The actual taxes are collected by the Fulton County Tax Commissioner’s Office.

Our proposed millage rate for fiscal year 2018 is 18.483, which is the lowest in the metro Atlanta region. When developing our fiscal year 2018 budget and proposed millage rate, we estimated a 6 percent increase in the tax digest based on an early estimated prediction from the chief tax assessor, who appeared before our board in March.

The school board expects to again keep the millage rate at or below 18.483 for the fiscal year 2018 budget, but we have not yet received the consolidated (final) tax digest from the Tax Commissioner’s office to finalize that intention. We hope to receive those final numbers very soon, but we do not have an expected date of release.

Once we receive the consolidated tax digest, we will advertise the five-year history of the millage and the public hearing dates, if needed, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; then, our board will decide the final millage rate, which will be published widely.

In the meantime, we want to remind stakeholders that final tax bills have not yet been calculated by the Tax Commissioner’s Office, and any concerns about property assessment should be addressed to the Fulton County Tax Assessor’s Office. Their office has published several meeting dates for community members to receive information and ask questions.

The Fulton County School Board will continue to be fiscally responsible stewards of our resources.

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