The third and final public hearing on the City of Austell 2021 budget will be held next Monday, July 26, 2021 at 6 p.m in City Hall, 2716 Broad Street, Austell Georgia.

The city issued the following press release after the proposed budget was prepared, with an explanation of why the budget is advertised as a tax increase of 4.97 percent:

PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCING A PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX INCREASE

The City of Austell Council today announces its intention to increase the 2021 property taxes it will levy this year by 4.97 percent over the rollback millage rate.

Each year, the board of tax assessors is required to review the assessed value for the property tax purposes of taxable property in the county.

When the trend of prices on properties that have recently sold in the county indicate there has been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property, the board of tax assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of such property and adjust the assessment.

This is called a reassessment.

When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requiresthata rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue of the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred.

The budget tentatively adopted by the City of Austell Council requires a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate; therefore, before the City of Austell Council may finalize the tentative budget and set a final millage rate, Georgia law requires three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase.

All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at City Hall, 2716 Broad Street, Austell Georgia on July 12, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.and July 26, 2021 at 6:00 p.m

The actual proposed increase is .154 mills which will bring the millage rate to 3.250.

For more information visit the City of Austell website.