Cobb commissioners are scheduled to adopt the fiscal year 2025 budget for Cobb County government as well as the 2024 millage rate on Tuesday.
The budget proposal that was presented earlier this month calls for $1.27 billion in spending, $41.3 million increase in the general fund from the current fiscal year 2024 budget, and holding the line on the general fund millage rate at 8.46 mills.
That constitutes a tax increase under state law, since there is no proposed “rollback” millage rate to match current spending levels.
Commissioners have held two of three required public hearings on the budget, with the final hearing set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the board room of the county office building at 100 Cherokee St., Marietta.
The property tax revenues in the proposed budget are a 9 percent increase from fiscal year 2024.
A number of citizens have asked commissioners to reduce the millage rate due to rising property tax assessments.
On Wednesday during a special-called public hearing on the budget, they held up graphics showing how the costs of daily living have gone up for citizens.
“Lower the millage, otherwise it is a nine percent increase,” said East Cobb resident Jan Barton.
“The only thing down is weekly average earnings. Your decisions are putting people out of their homes.”
Maria Cooper, who said she’s on a fixed income, rattled off household costs that have gone up for her and asked for the millage rate to be rolled back. “I don’t want to be pushed out of Cobb County,” she said.
The overall proposed budget includes $63.7 million in new spending, with an additional $14.7 million for the fire fund, with a proposed millage rate to remain the same at 2.99 mills.
Only five new positions would be created in the FY 2025 budget, whittled down from 382 requests for new jobs from department heads.
Also in the proposed budget is a reduction in the amount of Cobb Water System revenues to the general fund, from six percent to five percent.
The Cobb finance department has created a presentation (click here ) breaking down how property taxes are divided, what general fund revenues pay for, and “how the county will spend this year’s budget growth.”
During the Wednesday hearings, resident Sue Marshall held up a copy of the budget brochure and said the county could have done a better job of informing the public of the meeting.
A Cobb resident since 1977, she said previous commissions held town halls and actively asked for public feedback.
“But you’re not doing that,” she said. “You want to raise taxes and keep up with the Joneses and be more like DeKalb and the city of Atlanta.”
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid responded to some of the commenters.
“It’s very difficult for all of us, for my family, to know how much we’re paying,” she said. “A lot of this is being driven by fair-market [home] values. We are not building houses to the rate of demand.”
Cupid said commissioners have a duty to be stewards in maintaining basic county operations. Two-thirds of the additional revenues for FY 2025 will be paying for public safety salaries and benefits.
“You said we should value public safety and we do,” she said. “If this budget does not pass we won’t be able to sustain the raises that we’ve recently provided for those who are sworn officers.”
More budget information can be found by clicking here.
The full agenda for Tuesday’s meeting can be found by clicking here.
You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
Related:
- Cobb revokes health spa license for Canton Road business
- Cobb Water System probing Lake Allatoona wastewater spills
- Proposed Cobb FY 2025 budget raises property taxes
- Cobb approves $7M Lower Roswell Road project
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