The last public hearing on the Cobb County budget and millage rate will be held next Wednesday, July 25, 7 p.m. during the Board of Commissioners regular meeting in the BOC Room on the second floor of 100 Cherokee St., Marietta.

After the public hearing, the budget and the millage rate will be adopted, so this will be the last chance you will have to comment before it’s formally passed.

Cobb County budget and millage rate town halls and hearings

There have been seven town halls and two previous public hearings on the budget and millage rate increase, starting with the first town hall in East Cobb on June 18.

At the two previous hearings, people who spoke in support of the millage rate increase, who are concerned about the cuts to libraries, parks, the county extension service, and senior centers, have outnumbered opponents of the increase.  At the first hearing it was by a 2-1 margin, and during the second hearing supporters of the increase who spoke were in a slight majority.

Months of presentations by Boyce

BOC Chairman Boyce has made a months-long push for the budget and the increase, which included the town halls, a slide presentation by Cobb County GIS, and a string of youtube videos.

The state-mandated public hearings

Under Georgia law, counties are required to calculate a “rollback” millage rate after property reassessments are done and the total digest of taxable property for the year is prepared.  “Millage” is the amount per $1,000 of the taxable value of a property used to calculate how much the property owner owes in taxes.  The “rollback” millage rate is the hypothetical rate at which the taxation under the newly prepared tax digest would produce the same total tax revenue as the previous year.  If the county proposes a millage rate higher than the rollback rate, three public hearings are required so the public can give its opinion on the tax increase.