The City of Marietta will hold three public hearings on its property tax increase (or decrease, depending on how you frame it)

Exterior of Marietta City Hall. Red brick modern building


The City of Marietta will hold three public hearings on its millage rate.

Depending on how you frame it, Marietta will be implementing a tax decrease (the millage rate is going down) or an increase (the total tax digest is rising due to property value reassessments).

The city is not increasing the millage rate, which will decrease from from 4.992 mills to 4.817 mills, but since the total tax digest will increase for the year due to increase in property values, under state law a tax increase has to be advertised, and three public hearings are required.

Marietta’s hearings will be held at Marietta City Hall, 205 Lawrence Street, Marietta, Georgia in the Council Chamber on July 19, 2022, at 9:00 am and 6:00 pm and on July 26, 2022 at 9:00 am.

The announcement on the Marietta website describes the purpose of the hearings as follows:

MARIETTA – The Marietta City Council announces its intention to increase the property taxes it will levy this year by 8.99 percent over the rollback millage rate by levying the General Fund tax rates the same as last year. The overall millage rate for property owners in the City of Marietta will decrease so that property owners will pay less in property taxes this year than last year unless their property is commercial or industrial and was reassessed by Cobb County.

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

The budget tentatively adopted by the Marietta City Council contains a General Fund millage rate which differs from the rollback millage rate; therefore, before the Marietta City 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 General Fund.

According to Georgia law, all taxing agencies must advertise a tax increase and hold three public hearings to claim taxes on reassessed properties even if the millage rate remains unchanged as is the case in Marietta. The current General Fund millage rate has remained the same for the last 19 years.

All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at Marietta City Hall, 205 Lawrence Street, Marietta, Georgia in the Council Chamber on July 19, 2022, at 9:00 am and 6:00 pm and on July 26, 2022 at 9:00 am.

For more information about the City’s budgeting process please view our press release announcing that City Council adopted a balanced budget on June 8, 2022 without raising taxes or establishing new fees, included no service reductions, but did include a property tax decrease.



About the City of Marietta

The City of Marietta is the county seat of Cobb County. The latest estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau puts the population of the city at 60,867 which makes it the largest city in Cobb County by population.

However, the city is in a neck-and-neck race with fast-growing Smyrna, whose population was 56,666 at the last estimate.

Here are a few fast facts from the Census Bureau

Marietta city, Georgia

People

Population, Census, April 1, 202060972
Population, Census, April 1, 201056579
Age and Sex
Persons under 5 years, percent6.7%
Persons under 18 years, percent21.8%
Persons 65 years and over, percent13.2%
Female persons, percent49.9%
Race and Hispanic Origin
White alone, percent53.4%
Black or African American alone, percent(a)32.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent(a)0.6%
Asian alone, percent(a)1.9%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent(a)0.0%
Two or More Races, percent4.7%
Hispanic or Latino, percent(b)15.7%
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent46.4%
Population Characteristics
Veterans, 2016-20202678
Foreign born persons, percent, 2016-202016.6%
Housing
Owner-occupied housing unit rate, 2016-202044.0%
Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2016-2020$310,100
Median selected monthly owner costs -with a mortgage, 2016-2020$1,856
Median selected monthly owner costs -without a mortgage, 2016-2020$526
Median gross rent, 2016-2020$1,145
Families & Living Arrangements
Households, 2016-202024148
Persons per household, 2016-20202.39
Living in same house 1 year ago, percent of persons age 1 year+, 2016-202077.9%
Language other than English spoken at home, percent of persons age 5 years+, 2016-202023.7%
Computer and Internet Use
Households with a computer, percent, 2016-202095.1%
Households with a broadband Internet subscription, percent, 2016-202086.6%
Education
High school graduate or higher, percent of persons age 25 years+, 2016-202088.6%
Bachelor’s degree or higher, percent of persons age 25 years+, 2016-202044.0%
Health
With a disability, under age 65 years, percent, 2016-20206.3%
Persons without health insurance, under age 65 years, percent20.2%
Economy
In civilian labor force, total, percent of population age 16 years+, 2016-202067.2%
In civilian labor force, female, percent of population age 16 years+, 2016-202061.2%
Total accommodation and food services sales, 2012 ($1,000)(c)264544
Total health care and social assistance receipts/revenue, 2012 ($1,000)(c)1584232
Total manufacturers shipments, 2012 ($1,000)(c)1129407
Total retail sales, 2012 ($1,000)(c)1976915
Total retail sales per capita, 2012(c)$33,875
Transportation
Mean travel time to work (minutes), workers age 16 years+, 2016-202028.5
Income & Poverty
Median household income (in 2020 dollars), 2016-2020$59,594
Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2020 dollars), 2016-2020$36,112
Persons in poverty, percent14.1%
Businesses
All firms, 201210501
Men-owned firms, 20124934
Women-owned firms, 20124186
Minority-owned firms, 20124286
Nonminority-owned firms, 20125502
Veteran-owned firms, 20121015
Nonveteran-owned firms, 20128663
Geography
Population per square mile, 20102451.4
Land area in square miles, 201023.08