Cobb County Explained: Millage Rates and When Public Hearings Are Required

This is an entry in a series called Cobb County Explained. To learn more about this series, visit this link to the series introduction.

Millage rates determine how much property tax you pay in Cobb County. State law also requires public hearings in certain cases before those rates can be adopted.

What is a millage rate?

A millage rate is the tax rate applied to your property’s assessed value. One mill equals $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value.

For example, if your home’s assessed value is $200,000 and the total millage rate is 30 mills, your base property tax would be about $6,000 before exemptions.

Millage rates are set annually by local governments, including the county, schools and cities.

How it works in Cobb County

In Cobb, multiple entities set millage rates:

• Cobb County Board of Commissioners (county government)
• Cobb County School District
• Cities such as Marietta, Smyrna and Kennesaw

Each sets its own millage rate, and they are combined to create your total property tax rate.

Rates are typically adopted in the summer, alongside or shortly after the annual budget. The county and school district publish proposed rates and hold hearings before final approval.

When public hearings are required

Georgia’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (often called “truth in taxation”) law requires public hearings if a government plans to increase property taxes above the “rollback rate.”

The rollback rate is the millage rate that would generate the same total property tax revenue as the prior year, excluding new construction.

Here’s how the rule works:

• If a proposed millage rate exceeds the rollback rate, it is legally considered a tax increase, even if the millage rate stays the same but property values rise.
• In that case, the government must:
  • Advertise the increase
  • Hold three public hearings
  • Allow public comment before adopting the rate
• If the millage rate is at or below the rollback rate, fewer or no additional hearings are required beyond normal budget hearings.

This applies to Cobb County government, the school district and cities separately.

Why it matters to residents

Millage rate decisions directly affect your tax bill. Even if officials say they are “not raising the rate,” higher home values can still increase what you pay.

Public hearing requirements are designed to make those increases transparent and give residents a chance to respond before rates are finalized.

What to know now

Millage rate discussions in Cobb typically happen May through July, after property assessments are issued.

Watch for:

• “Rollback rate” announcements
• Legal ads in local publications
• Public hearing schedules from the county and school district

You can track updates and meeting notices here:

• County budget and tax information:
  https://www.cobbcounty.org/finance
• Board of Commissioners meetings:
  https://www.cobbcounty.org/board
• School district budget and tax info:
  https://www.cobbk12.org

If you plan to speak, the required public hearings are the key opportunity to weigh in before rates are set.

Editor’s note: The outline of this article was prepared using ChatGPT, then was manually edited and fact-checked.