Cobb school board member Becky Sayler creates FAQ about school tax hearings

Cobb Post 2 member of the Board of Education, Becky Sayler, posted the following FAQ about the Cobb school tax hearings and the relationship between the tax and the Cobb County School District budget. She posted this to her Facebook page, and emphasized that the FAQ comes from her, and is not an official school board or district FAQ:

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𝐓𝐀𝐗 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐐

This Thursday, July 9, the Cobb County School Board will conduct two tax hearings in the board room at 514 Glover Street, Marietta, GA 30060. Session 1 will be at 11:30 am and Session 2 will be at 6:05 pm. Session 3 will take place before our 7 pm monthly board meeting on July 23 at 6:30 pm. Now that I have done these for a few years, I’m able to anticipate some of the questions we receive, so I thought I’d post an FAQ here for concerned and curious citizens.

𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞?

No, the current FY 2027 budget keeps the millage rate at 18.7.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 “𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥?”

A “mill” is one thousandth of a US dollar. The millage rate is the rate by which your property is taxed.

𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩?

Yes. Keeping the millage rate at 18.7 when property tax assessments have risen means an increase in taxes of 3.80%. For a home with a fair market value of $500,000, this increase is about $130/year.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐘 𝟐𝟎𝟐7 𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟖.𝟕 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞? 𝐂𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐱 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐫?

Since we as a board don’t do the tax assessments or send out the tax assessment notices, we don’t control when they are received by taxpayers. The millage digest is always calculated after the tax assessments go out. State law requires us to have budget hearings and millage rate hearings. They can be combined, but they cannot be held before we have the millage digest. We don’t have it when we adopt our budget in the spring. State law requires us to have a budget in place before the start of the fiscal year, July 1.

𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭! 𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐭?

I’d love to find a way to approve millage in a timeline that makes sense for community input – but that is beyond the scope of the board and the tax commissioner. I am always happy to listen to feedback from the community. You can reach out through this page or email at saylerforcobb@gmail.com

𝐀𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐬.

In Cobb, seniors aged 62 and older are exempt from paying school taxes. Our county has the most permissive senior exemption in the metro (lowest age, no required length of residency and no income cap).

𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐘 𝟐𝟎𝟐7 𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭?

Yes, you can access it through this link.

𝐂𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐱 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧?

This year’s budget in particular made some difficult cuts, including a reduction of 185 positions. Last year’s budget cut 118 positions. Even so, 94% of this budget is in salaries and benefits, and serious cuts would reduce staffing even more. Unfortunately, health care costs and the district contributions to retirement continue to climb. These are critically important benefits that CCSD employees deserve, and that I wish the state would contribute more towards.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐱?

The implications for our school district are not entirely clear yet. A link to SB 33 is in the comments. The law allows for a switch in how things are funded – by raising sales tax to offset cutting property taxes. The brunt of this type of tax is usually on families with lower incomes as opposed to wealthier families and individuals, and would essentially nullify a senior exemption for school taxes since seniors would be paying into school taxes with every purchase they make. If the state would like to reduce the burden on homeowners, it seems that they should get serious about funding schools sufficiently so that school districts do not have to rely so heavily on local taxes, which come from property taxes, in order to balance their budgets.

Any errors in this FAQ are my own.