Commission approves county, school millage
The 2021 millage rate, set at 24.789 mills for incorporated areas and 24.013 mills for unincorporated areas, is as low as it has been since 2000 according to the millage rate histories provided by Elbert County Board of Commissioners Chief Financial Officer Phil Pitts.
In 2000, the rate was set around 20 mills in both incorporated and unincorporated areas and jumped up to over 25 and 24.7 mills in 2001. For over 16 years, the rate steadily increased and started to see a decline in 2017.
Now, in 2021, the rate is at a decline of 2.789 mills over last year in incorporated areas and 3.169 mills in unincorporated areas. after the Elbert County Board of Commissioners (BOC) approved the new rate during a called meeting Sept. 2.
The expected total digest for 2021, at over $621 million ($621,770,483), sets one mill equivalent to $621,770, a $70,888 increase over 2020. The total county tax digest allows for a 1.06 percent, or $66,088, net tax decrease.
The county’s net maintenance and operation millage rate makes up 9.763 of the 24 mills in unincorporated areas and 10.539 mills in incorporated areas due to the City of Elberton receiving benefits from insurance premium taxes directly, according to Pitts.
The BOC approved the remaining 14.250 mills for both areas for the Elbert County Board of Education (BOE), which BOE Chief Financial Officer Keith Martin said is .279 mills less than the rollback rate.
“It means we’re going to be pretty tight on revenue but we’re going to work on it the best we can,” Pitts told the BOC after their unanimous approval of the 2021 rate.
The county’s over $13.5 million budget, up almost $1.2 million from the 2021 fiscal year budget, was approved by the BOC July 26.
Correction(s): The expected total digest was listed in the print edition of The Elberton Star as $6.2 million. It has been corrected in this story to $621 million. The listing of the "gross" maintenance and operation millage rate should have been listed as "net" maintenance and operation. It has been corrected in this story. We apologize for these errors.