001Uh that's good evening and welcome to the June 17th public hearing uh on the military. Um this is an opportunity for you the public to speak to us. Uh we'll first have uh Miss Kohley. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Moss and good evening. Good evening everyone. Okay. Tonight we are going to do a presentation on the fiscal year 2026 budget process for our public hearing on the millage rate taxpayer bill of rights. Although the district is not seeking to raise the millage rate, any millage rate that is in excess of the roll back rate must be advertised as a tax increase, requires a press release to be issued, and requires three public hearings to be held. Below on the chart are the three hearings. We had one this morning at 11:00 a.m. That was our
002first one. We are now in our second public hearing. And then we have another public hearing at 6:00 p. p.m. on Wednesday, June 25th. In 1999, the Georgia General Assembly passed the Taxpayer Bill of Rights with the intent to prevent what was referred to as backdoor tax increases. The taxpayer bill of rights and rules were developed by the Georgia Department of Revenue to implement this legislation to establish a process that all local government jurisdictions, counties, cities, and boards of education must follow. This process ensures full disclosure to the public for any increases, including increases that result from f value inflation. The taxpayer bill of rights was established to notify the public about inflationary increases to existing property values at the local government level. It also enhanced individual property owners rights when objecting to and appealing
003an increase in properties appraised value to the county board of assessors. According to the taxpayer bill of rights, each taxing jurisdiction must roll back or reduce the millage rate each year to offset any inflationary increases in the tax digest. If the county or other governing authority elects to set their millage rate higher than the roll back rate, then they must follow certain requirements to notify the public that taxes are being increased. The public notification process includes three public hearings, public notices of the increase in the local newspaper, and press releases. Each year, the Chattam County Board of Assessors establishes the taxable value of all property in the county and publishes the certified tax digest for each taxing jurisdiction. The board of education has two separate taxing jurisdictions and therefore receives two separate tax digest, one
004for maintenance and operations and another for bond indebtedness. Each of these two taxing jurisdictions has its own millage rate which is determined by the board. Taxable values exist for six types of property. Real property, personal property, vehicles, mobile homes, timber and heavy duty equipment. Digest values for both jurisdictions are shown on the chart. The current digest amounts and amounts for the last five years were published in the local paper as required by law. Sometimes when assessed property values go up, homeowners will pay more taxes even when the school district millage rate remains unchanged or is lowered. Even though the millage rate has not gone up, taxpayers may see increased cost. This is because the value of their property has increased. In the chart presented, the red line represents the millage rate. The millage rate is
005in the the millage rate in the example is unchanged. As the property value increases in year two, the higher tax liability is a result of increased property values. For fiscal year 2026, Savannah Chattam County Public School System recommends no change in the current millage rate of 17.481 mills. Changes in the digest value of real property, one of the six types of property, can take two forms. new construction or reassessment of existing property. Once the assessors establish the taxable value of real property, they calculate the millage equivalent of any reassessments, subtract it from last year's millage rate, and the result becomes the roll back rate. The millage equivalent is determined by taking the value of reassessments divided by the total digest and multiplying the result of last year's millage rate. This calculation is shown on the
006slide. The tenative millage rate adopted by the board of education for maintenance and operations exceeds the roll back rate. Here you see the 17.481 481 mills remains the same in the two millillage rates from last year to the initial tenative rate for calendar year 2025. Calculation of school taxes on a home valued at $250,000 with only the state regular homestead exemption is shown on this slide. This is an example of a property tax bill in which the property value increases from the prior year using the recommended millage of 17.481 mills. The total estimated tax for county school M is 2,27253. This shot slide shows an example of a property tax bill in which the property value does not change from the prior year using 17.481 mills. The total estimated tax for county school M is
007$2,972. This shot slide shows an example of a property tax bill in which the property values decreases from the prior year using the recommended millage of 17.481 mills. Excuse me. The total estimated tax county school M is $1,922.91. This concludes the presentation on the school millage rate. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you very much. Okay, this is a public hearing, meaning that we are here to hear from the public. Uh we have one person signed up to speak. Uh Mr. Cohen, thank you so much. uh superintendent and uh good evening to the board members. Um I've been out of town and I'm still commuting, but I wanted to take this moment to thank the board for um watching out for um my vested interest. Uh I got my tax statement and I
008have a vested interest in all the schools from elementary going up to the high schools. Um, I didn't get a chance to read the big book because I just got back, but I will. And, uh, I've got board meetings to look at from 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. So, I got a lot of meetings here to catch up on. And I'm still in the process of, you know, commuting. Mission is to get my mother here. and um me and the three siblings, they go by the names of me, myself, and I. So, you know what that tells you. So, um continue on board. I encourage you. And um I think I'm going to add you to my prayer list tonight. Thank you, Mr. Cohen. Okay. Um, do we have anyone else who has
009signed to speak? There being none, I'll accept a motion to adjurnn. So move. Second. Moved and seconded. All in favor? I I We're adjourned. All right. There we go. brightest.