Cobb tax digest for 2018 is announced at a record $36.7 billion

Robinson Park construction, Cobb tax digest

The Cobb tax digest total for this year is better than initially projected.

Stephen White, the Cobb County Tax Assessor, has announced that it’s a record $36.7 billion for 2018, and was approved Thursday by the Board of Tax Assessors.

The tax digest is the taxable value of all commercial and residential property. White said this year’s digest is a nine percent increase over 2017, which was a record $33.6 billion.

“The increase in the tax digest sends a great message to all business owners and property owners,” White said in a statement issued by the county. “The message is that your investment is doing well. We are a desired county for real estate and this is a very strong real estate market we are in.”

Earlier this year tax digest growth of 7.5 percent was predicted, just as county officials were preparing to address a projected fiscal year 2019 budget deficit of at least $30 million.

That’s just a little bit more than this year’s value of the floating homestead exemption. That exemption freezes the taxable value of a home as it pertains to general fund portion of a tax bill.

The floating exemption total this year is $28.4 million, a savings for residential property owners, but as the county noted in a release this morning, “that exemption means the county’s general fund will not fully reap the benefits of the growth in the tax digest.”

In Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce”s proposed FY 2019 budget of $453 million, the homestead exemption total would rise to $35.6 million. He’s seeking a 1.7 mills increase in the general fund.

Boyce has been holding budget town hall meetings around the county, and they will conclude on July 9 at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.

Budget adoption and setting of the millage rate is scheduled for July 25.