The Milton City Council has opted to partially roll back the city’s maintenance and operations millage rate after all, to 4.390 mills from 4.731 mills for 2018 property taxes.
Earlier this summer, officials indicated the millage rate would remain unchanged. Their reasons included capital projects pushed back a year because of Fulton County’s delayed 2017 tax digest, their millage cap of 4.731 mills, and uncertainties over a Nov. 6 vote on a new homestead exemption.
But after two public hearings on the proposed rate, Mayor Joe Lockwood asked staff to carefully examine the originally anticipated collection rates and proposed expenditures for fiscal 2019, officials said.
Staff confirmed the most recent tax digest appeal data, and additional analysis allowed for an increase in the anticipated M&O collection rate from 90 percent to 95 percent, officials said. The council was given three possible millage rate scenarios — 4.731, 4.390 and 4.031 mills — and it went with the middle option.
Combined with a green space bond millage rate of 0.671 mills, Milton taxpayers will see a total 2018 millage rate of 5.061 mills.
“We’re pleased that we could offer our residents some relief this year, while maintaining the level of city services that they’ve come to expect from their city government over the last 11 years,” Lockwood said.
To view the Finance Department presentation on the millage rate, go to: https://bit.ly/2Bas8fA. The presentation begins at 11:10 on the video.
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