The Cobb County Board of Education on Thursday approved its fiscal year 2024 budget, which is based on a tax rate reduction for the first time in more than a decade.
The budget will fund more than 200 new employees, including 11 school resource officers and 55 intervention teachers for elementary schools; an additional $1 million investment in the district’s effort to pay for educators’ advanced degrees; and pay increases for most employees.
Full-time, permanent employees can expect raises that will range from 7.5% to 12.1% this year. Last year, employees received raises starting at 8.5%.
The board will not vote on the millage rate until July 20, but the budget is based on a reduction in the rate by .2 mills. The millage rate has been 18.9 mills since 2007, but district staff proposed a rate of 18.7 mills this year.
The proposed reduction represents a $7.6 million loss in revenue for Cobb, but rising property values are estimated to bring in an additional $81 million in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Board member David Banks abstained from the vote, suggesting that the millage rate reduction isn’t enough to help taxpayers who may be expected to pay more in property taxes as property values increase.
“I’m a fiscal conservative Republican, and I’m going to vote accordingly,” he said.
Other board members emphasized the proposed reduction in the millage rate as a positive thing for taxpayers and the district.
“Every little bit helps (taxpayers),” Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said about the proposed reduction. “But at the same time, the flip side of the coin is you get what you pay for.”
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