Hearings Set On Property Tax Increases Resulting From Inflation

Oconee County residents will have six chances starting on Thursday morning to tell their elected officials what they think about their decisions not to reduce property taxes to compensate for the effects of inflation on property values.

The Board of Education will hold the first of three public hearings at 10 a.m. on Thursday in the Board Meeting Room at the Superintendent’s Office, 34 School Street, Watkinsville.

That will be followed by a second hearing at 6 p.m. on Thursday and a third at 5 p.m. on Aug. 12, both in the Board Meeting Room at the Superintendent’s Office.

The Board of Commissioners will hold its first public hearing at 6 p.m. on Aug. 6 at the Commission Chambers in the Courthouse in Watkinsville. The regularly scheduled Commission meeting will follow at 6:30 p.m.

The Board of Commissioners will hold subsequent hearings at that same location at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 27. The regular Commission meeting will following at 6 p.m. on Aug. 27.

The hearings are required by state law because neither the Board of Education nor the Board of Commissioners rolled back the millage rates sufficient to compensation for the increase in property values due to inflation. The proposed millage rates, in effect, are not revenue neutral.

The hearings are unlikely to have any impact on either Board, as both have adopted budgets that took effect on July 1 that are based on the proposed millage rates.

For more on the story, including a detailed explanation of the computation of the property taxes, please go to Oconee County Observations.