As he did during the adoption of the Cobb County School District’s fiscal year 2024 budget in May, school board member David Banks didn’t cast a vote Thursday when it came time for setting a new millage rate.
As he did previously, Banks, the board’s vice chairman from East Cobb-based Post 5, voted present as his colleagues voted 6-0 to set the millage rate at 18.7 mills.
The millage rate is set separately from budget adoption since the Cobb tax digest isn’t formalized until July, when the Cobb school district budget goes into effect.
That’s 0.2 mills less than the millage rate that’s been set annually since 2007, but not as much as Banks wanted.
At a work session and voting session Thursday, he reiterated his desire for cut of 0.5 percent, due to rising property tax assessments that have prompted an outcry from citizens across the county.
He repeated claims that even with a 0.2 cut, the FY 2024 budget includes the largest tax increase in the history of the Cobb school district.
But during the work session, Brad Johnson the district’s chief financial officer, said he researched that issue and found that in 1972, the Cobb school budget had a tax increase of more than 30 percent.
That was a few years before the Georgia legislature approved a senior tax exemption for homeowners 62 and over from paying school taxes.
“I’m not for a wholesale reduction,” said Banks, a fourth-term Republican, saying that a 0.5-mill cut would suffice “until we get to a level that is appropriate.
“I don’t want to get into a situation where we tax people out of their homes or can’t pay the rent.”
It’s a similar concern expressed at a town hall meeting held Wednesday by JoAnn Birrell of the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which is scheduled to adopt a budget and millage rate on Tuesday.
The new $1.4 billion school district budget based on an 18.7 millage rate includes substantial pay increases for teachers and full-time employees, who have received strong pay and benefits raises for after several lean years.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said those initiatives have been necessary to make Cobb schools competitive for hiring and retaining teachers, issuing a common refrain of “so goes the district, so goes the county.”
But Banks persisted with a line of questioning that irritated board chairman Brad Wheeler, a fellow Republican, who wanted to “move along” with the discussion.
“Please don’t interrupt me,” Banks shot back, as the two went back and forth like that for a few moments.
At the evening voting session, the board’s three Democrats also said they liked the idea of a bigger reduction, but only one of them, Tre’ Hutchins of Post 3 in South Cobb, voted with Banks on the latter’s amendment to reduce the rate to 18.4 mills.
First-term Democrat Nichelle Davis of Post 3 in Smyrna said the 18.4 millage rate is “a step in the right direction.”
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- Convicted ex-Kell HS teacher subject of true-crime series
- Cobb school board Post 5 candidates file financial disclosure reports
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