The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday adopted a $1.448 billion fiscal year 2024 budget Thursday with a property tax rate reduction and a generous pay raise for teachers and other employees.
But it wasn’t unanimous.
Board member and vice chairman David Banks, a Republican from Post 5 in East Cobb, voted present after expressing concerns about rising tax assessments.
The Cobb County School District’s millage rate is going down for the first time in 15 years, from 18.9 mills to 18.7 mills.
But that wasn’t enough for Banks, whose six colleagues all voted to adopt the budget.
Cobb property tax assessments for 2023 have gone out in the last week, with Cobb Tax Assessor Stephen White acknowledging that the “vast majority” of homeowners will have higher assessments than last year.
As he questioned Cobb school district Chief Financial Officer Brad Johnson, Banks referenced rising assessments by as much as 46 percent.
Although the largest portion of a typical Cobb homeowner’s tax bill is for schools—except for those receiving the senior tax exemption—assessments are conducted by the Cobb Tax Assessor’s office and are based on fair market value and other factors.
“I have some concerns about this budget,” Banks said, addressing Johnson. “Would you acknowledge that this is the largest tax increase the school district has ever had?”
Johnson hesitated for a moment before responding by reminding Banks of the millage rate cut, which is resulting in a savings of $7.6 million this year in property tax revenues, “and over five and 10 years much more than that.”
Banks said in spite of that, “it’s still the largest tax increase in the school’s history,” withing citing a source, “correct?”
Johnson replied that “I characterize it as a millage decrease. If you have a home that’s worth more [in the form of a higher assessment], you will pay more. If you have a home that’s worth less, you’ll pay less.”
Banks continued that “the taxpayer is going to see a huge increase in their taxes this year, correct?”
Johnson reiterated that “it depends on how much their home is worth, and it depends on how the tax assessor values it.”
Banks said he wanted to see the tax rate cut by 0.5 mills.
“I’m a fiscal conservative Republican, and I’m going to vote accordingly,” he said.
One of his fellow fiscal conservative Republican colleagues was aghast.
“Wow,” said Randy Scamihorn of Post 1 in north and west Cobb, right after Banks finished his remarks. “I didn’t know that giving back money was going to create complaints. We need to be prudent and make sure we can cover the basics, make sure that we are competitive in salaries with our teachers and support staff. We’re doing good things.”
In the FY 2024 budget, which takes effect July 1, full-time employees will receive salary increases between 7.5 percent and 12.1 percent, and the Cobb school district would hire an additional 11 officers for its police department, which currently has 70 officers.
Banks, who is in the last year of his fourth term, has not announced if he will be seeking re-election in Post 5, which includes the Walton, Wheeler and Pope high school clusters.
Two candidates who have declared their candidacy for the Post 5 seat, Democrat Laura Judge and Republican John Cristadoro, both addressed the school board Thursday before the budget vote in approval of the proposed spending plan.
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