With skyrocketing property assessments and a potential record tax digest expected in 2023, the Cobb Board of Commissioners will soon consider the fiscal year 2024 operating budget.
A formal presentation is expected in June, and on Wednesday Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid addressed that topic and others in a mini-state of the county update to the East Cobb Civic Association.
She said her own assessment has gone up by 25 percent on the home she bought in Smyrna two years ago.
Cupid also pointed out the need to continue a new step-and-grade salary and promotional system for public safety personnel, among other priorities in the current $1.2 million FY 2023 budget.
“All of that has to be funded,” Cupid told the ECCA audience of about 40 people at the Fullers Park Recreation Center. “We are fortunate that we have the coffers to do this.”
Cobb commissioners voted last year in a partisan split to maintain the general fund millage rate—which provides most of the revenues for county government—at 8.46 mills, while slightly raising the fire millage rate.
Cupid and the board’s other two Democrats, including Jerica Richardson of East Cobb, voted for that budget, while the two Republican members, including JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb, were opposed.
Some citizens spoke then for a millage rate cut, in light of inflation and amid broader economic concerns.
After the meeting Wednesday, Cupid was asked by East Cobb News if she might be considering a millage rate reduction for the 2024 budget.
She said that “she can’t say” for the moment, not just because the budget proposal is still being put together, but also because of the need to continue making strides to improve salaries for county employees and other priorities.
Last year, Birrell and GOP commissioner Keli Gambrill said the millage rate should be cut back due to rising revenues from a tax digest that grew by more than 12 percent.
This year’s digest is expected to be 13 percent, and could be larger when it is finalized next month.
The Cobb Board of Education last month passed an FY 2024 budget of $1.4 billion that includes generous salary increases but also cuts the millage rate for the first time in 15 years.
Cupid said her concern is if the board does cut back, the funding issues she’s mentioned for several years “will roll over and over” into coming years.
She admitted that concerns from citizens about rising assessments “is the most I’ve ever heard” in her near-decade on the board.
“Those concerns are being heard,” she told East Cobb News. “I can certainly understand the concerns they have.”
Cobb commissioners last reduced the general fund millage rate in 2016, when then-chairman Tim Lee was in a runoff with Mike Boyce, who defeated him then to become chairman.
But the county faced a $32 million budget shortfall two years later, and Boyce pushed through a millage rate increase that his fellow Republican commissioners opposed.
Boyce, whom Cupid defeated in 2020, said the hike was necessary to maintain Cobb’s status as a “five-star county.”
She isn’t using language like that, but reiterated her long-standing complaints—stemming from the time she was the only Democrat on the board—about “kicking the can down the road” when it comes to spending priorities.
“I could do it and look good,” Cupid said, referencing a tax cut proposal, “but somebody’s going to have to pay the price.”
She said Cobb has made some headway on addressing those long-term needs, including restoring some key capital maintenance funding, but “we still have a ways to go.”
Before Wednesday’s meeting, ECCA officials handed out an information sheet about how citizens can appeal their assessments.
Cobb Tax Assessor Stephen White said roughly 1-2 percent of Cobb property owners file an appeal. The deadline for submitting an appeal is June 26, and more information can be found by clicking here.
Cupid also encouraged property owners to learn about homestead exemptions and other exemptions they may qualify for that could reduce the assessed value of their homes.
More information is available at the Cobb Tax Commissioner’s website.
In late July Cobb commissioners will adopt the FY 2024 budget, which goes into effect Oct. 1.
Related:
- Gritters Library to close June 17 for reconstruction of new site
- Cobb strategic plan draft includes exclusionary zoning reference
- Funding approved for Ebenezer Downs Park design contract
- ‘Vast majority’ of Cobb homeowners to get higher assessments
- Cupid, public commenters spar over ‘State of Cobb’ address
- Cobb tax digest expected to grow by 13 percent in 2023
- Cobb to seek national historic designation for Hyde Farm
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