Commission Holds Public Hearing On Proposed Property Tax Rate

Oconee County taxpayers will get a second chance to voice their opinions on the county’s plans to approve a property tax rate for 2020 when the Board of Commissioners holds a public hearing before its regular meeting on Tuesday

The proposed property tax rate, or millage rate, will be the same in 2020 as it was in 2019, and the county budget, which went into effect with the beginning of the 2021 Fiscal Year on July 1, has been approved based on that rate.

Because some county property has been assessed at a higher value than last year due to market forces, those property owners with a higher assessment will be paying more tax even though the tax rate remains unchanged.

For that reason, state law requires the county to hold public hearings on the proposed tax rate.

At the first public hearing before the Board of Commissioners Agenda-Setting meeting last week, no citizen came forward either in person or via the live-streamed session.

At that meeting, the Board of Commissioners voted to go forward with the November referendum on the Special Purpose Local Option Sales, gave first reading to a revision of the county’s Animal Services Ordinance, and heard preliminary discussion of proposed roundabouts on SR 53.

The regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners, preceded by the second of three public hearings on the tax rate, begins at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the Courthouse in Watkinsville and also will be available via live-streaming.

For more on the story, with a video of last week’s Board of Commissioners meeting, please go to Oconee County Observations.