Cobb millage rate

Hearings slated for proposed FY 2020 Cobb millage rate

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Cobb budget town hall, Mike Boyce, Cobb public safety bonus, Cobb millage rate

Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce isn’t proposing a millage rate increase for fiscal  year 2020 like he did a year ago. But growth in the county’s tax digest means public hearings will be necessary specifically for the millage rate.

That’s because under state law, local governments and school boards that don’t assess a “rollback” millage rate to counter that tax revenue increase are in effect imposing a property tax increase, and are required to hold public hearings.

Last week Cobb Tax Assessor Steven White declared that the 2019 Cobb tax digest will be a record $39 billion, surpassing last year’s total of $36.2 billion.

The county announced Tuesday that those public hearings will take place on the same dates and at the same Cobb Board of Commissioners meetings in which FY 2020 budget hearings have been scheduled:

  • Tuesday, July 9, 9 a.m.;
  • Tuesday, July 16, 6:30 p.m.;
  • Tuesday, July 23, 2019, 7 p.m.

That last meeting is also slated for final budget adoption. Last week Boyce outlined his $474.8 million budget proposal that he will formally introduce Monday at 1:30 p.m.

The property tax “increase” amounts to 4.52 percent from last year’s general fund revenues.

The Cobb Board of Education also holds millage rate hearings in similar situations. It hasn’t upped the school millage rate of 18.9 mills in years, but tax revenue growth has meant it also has had to hold the same hearings.

This year that tax revenue increase for Cobb schools is 4.88 percent. A recent history of the schools millage rate levy can be found here.

Next Wednesday, the school board will hold its first public hearing on the tax digest at 11 a.m. at the Cobb County School District headquarters, 514 Glover St., Marietta. Additional hearings are in the same location on July 18 at 12 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., with millage rate adoption scheduled for the same day at 7 p.m.

The Cobb schools fiscal year 2020 began on Monday.

The proposed FY 2020 Cobb government millage rates are as follows:

  • General Fund, 8.46 mills;
  • Fire Fund, 2.86 mills;
  • Debt Service (Bond Fund), 0.13 mills;
  • Cumberland Special Services District II, 2.45 mills;
  • Six Flags Special Service District, 3.50 mills.

Citizens can speak on the budget and millage rate proposals at the meetings listed above. They will be held in the second floor board meeting room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.

Here’s more from the Cobb Tax Commissioners Office on the county’s millage rate history, and the millage rates compared to the six cities in the county.

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Ott opposes raising millage rate to close $21M Cobb budget gap

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This shouldn’t come as a surprise: Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott is opposed to raising the millage rate to balance the fiscal year 2018 Cobb County budget.

Bob Ott
Commissioner Bob Ott at his East Cobb Library town hall meeting in August. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)

With commissioners scheduled to adopt a budget next Thursday, Ott sent out a lengthy message right before the Labor Day holiday weekend explaining why he would not support a rise in the property tax millage rate to cover an estimated $21 million shortfall.

Commission chairman Mike Boyce has proposed an $890 million spending package (PDF here) that includes using contingency funding to close the entire deficit gap.

In July, Ott helped foil Boyce’s plan to raise the millage rate to fully fund the $40 million 2008 Cobb Parks referendum (East Cobb News coverage here).

The proposed FY 2018 budget would be balanced by using reserve funding from the following sources:

  • $10.4 million from the reserve for a county employees pay and classification implementation study;
  • $5.7 million from the county Title Ad Valorem Tax Reserve;
  • $5.3 million from the county economic development contingency.

Ott, who’s been vigorously opposed to property tax increases in general, said he can’t support raising the millage rate now, for a full fiscal-year budget, with contingency money available. In his weekly e-mail newsletter that came out on Friday, he said:

“I believe it is wrong to raise the millage rate before the BOC uses the money from these funds to pay-down the deficit. Together, at their height, these funds totaled approximately $22 million being held in reserve on top of the county’s ‘normal’ reserve funds.”

He also hinted at this position at an Aug. 17 town hall meeting at the East Cobb Library, just days after the budget was revealed, telling constituents “it’s your money.”

In his Friday e-mail, Ott urged finding ways to reduce expenses in some county services, including two familiar targets of his, the annual transfer of Cobb water system revenues to the general fund, and transit subsidies:

“I don’t believe the answer to addressing this $21 million deficit is simply an increase in the millage rate. A complete review of the budget and expenses should be done to identify and eliminate wasteful spending. Two areas that I believe illustrate inefficiencies in the budget are the need to transfer $20 million per year from the Water System to the general fund and the roughly $17 million a year subsidy of the county transit system. CobbLinc provides invaluable service to many county residents. However, many buses travel the routes virtually, if not completely, empty.”

Ott’s also been in a budget fight on another front, with fellow East Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who is proposing to close the East Cobb Library, citing duplication of services.

After hearing from upset East Cobb residents opposed to shuttering the second-busiest branch in the Cobb library system, Birrell defended her proposal at an Aug. 22 public hearing on the budget. She cited a recent report calling for more police officer hires in Cobb (Birrell has long wanted to create a new police precinct in Northeast Cobb) and said she wants to be good steward of taxpayer money.

At his town hall, Ott said he is considering moving some services at the East Cobb Government Service Center to the East Cobb Library and possibly closing an “underperforming” library elsewhere in his district, but he hasn’t elaborated.

Here’s his full statement from Friday; he said he’ll be detailing more suggestions on budget cuts.

East Cobb citizens sound off on proposed property tax millage rate increase

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Before any of the estimated 200 people could take their seats at the East Cobb Senior Center Wednesday for a town hall meeting devoted to a proposed property tax millage rate increase, they were handed a poster and an information sheet in strident opposition to what they were about to hear.

East Cobb realtors were giving out pink signs saying “No New Tax,” followed by a flyer from the Georgia Taxpayers United organization, urging homeowners sign a petition demanding Cobb commissioners “cut wasteful spending and lower taxes” when the 2017 millage rate is set next week.

Inside an overcrowded meeting room, commission chairman Mike Boyce was expecting residents to deliver some heat about his proposed millage hike of 0.13 mills to fully fund the remaining $13 million of a $40 million parks referendum approved by Cobb voters in 2008.

He got plenty of heat and pointed questions about the budget, county government spending, millage rates, the Atlanta Braves stadium deal with Cobb and more. Yet Boyce stood firm on his pledge to raise the millage rate—as he kept repeating, for the parks bond only—and wasn’t afraid to tangle with citizens in a feisty, and at times testy, meeting.

“I’m not going back on my word,” Boyce said, reminding those in attendance he made a campaign promise last year to fully fund the 2008 parks bond, which was never issued due to the recession. It wasn’t the central plank in his upset victory over then-chairman Tim Lee—how the Braves deal was handled was—but the parks funding its what’s gotten Boyce into some hot water seven months after taking office.

“It you’re asking me to change that position, I’m not going to.”

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