Fulton County Schools sets lower property tax rate than first planned

The Fulton County Board of Education lowered the property tax rate to 17.24 mills, a move that amounts to a 2.78% tax increase because of rising property values.

District leaders initially planned to set the rate at 17.49 mills, but the board recently authorized the slightly lower rate to give taxpayers more relief. The district reported it will forgo approximately $10.1 million in tax revenue because of the last-minute rate change.

The change legally is considered a tax increase because the district would have had to roll back the rate to 16.773 mills to completely offset tax increases because of higher property assessments.