The City of Newnan to Hold Public Hearings on 2008 Milleage Rate

The city of Newnan will hold three public hearings over the next three weeks concerning its intention to remain at its current ad valorem tax rate of 4.32 mills for the 2008 tax year.

The 4.32 mill rate would be applied to property taxes levied by the city in the beginning of fall 2008 and would fund city operations during the 2008 tax year, if it is adopted by the City Council in early August. Leaving the property tax at the same millage rate would increase property tax revenues for the City of Newnan this year by 1.16 percent over the “rollback” millage rate.

Each year, the board of assessors is required to review the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable property in the city. When the trends of prices on properties that have recently sold in the city indicate there has been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property, the board of tax assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of such property and increase the assessment. This is called a reassessment.

When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia Law requires that a rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s new digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred.

The rollback rate for 2008 would be 4.27 but the City Council has adopted a preliminary ordinance setting the milleage on keeping its current rate of 4.32. Georgia Law requires that three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase in revenue. While those residents whose property was reassessed by the tax assessor would receive a tax increase, those residents whose property were not assessed will not see an increase. The reassessed properties will show an increase of only 1.16%.

All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at Newnan City Hall, 25 LaGrange Street, Newnan, Georgia on August 4, 2008 at 11:45 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. and on August 12, 2008 at 2:15 p.m.