001Good morning. Good morning. And welcome to the June 17th uh public hearing on the millage rate. This is the public hearing. Uh what that means is we hear from the p public. Uh we'll first have a presentation by Miss Kulie and then we'd like to hear from the public. M. Thank you, Mr. Moss. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. This is the fiscal year 2026 budget process public hearing on the millage rate taxpayer bill of rights. Although the district is not seeking to raise the millage rate, any mill 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. This is our first public hearing, 11:00 a.m. June 17th. We will have another public hearing
002tonight at 6 pm and we will have our third public hearing next Wednesday, June 25th at 6 pm. 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 which includes counties, cities, and boards of education must follow. This process ensures full disclosure to the public for any increases, including increases that result from 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 an increase in an property's
003appraised 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 for maintenance and operations
004and 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 in the example is unchanged.
005As 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 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 dividing divided by the total digest and multiplying the result of last year's millage rate. This calculation is shown on the slide. The tenative millage rate adopted by the
006board of education for maintenance and operations exceeds the roll back rate. Here you see the 17.481 mills remains the same in the two millage rates from last year to the initial tenative rate for calendar year 2025. Calculation of school taxes on a home valued it 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 the county school M is $2,27253. This slide is 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 count county school M is $2,97.72. This is an example of a
007property tax bill in which the property value decreases from the prior year using the recommended millage of 17.481 mills. The total estimated county M is $1,922.91. This concludes the presentation on the millillage on the school millage rate. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. So um we have one person that signed up but if uh after this person speaks if there's anyone else um please announce yourself. So first we have uh Dr. John Dr. John Willis. Good morning everyone. Can you hear me? Okay. Or should I get closer to the There you go. You're fine. There. All right. Well, I'm Dr. John Wills. My wife and I, we moved from Abu Dhabi and to Savannah and enjoyed living here very much. But what has really concerned us is the increase in the property
008tax for the property that we purchased. And the property tax and our property has increased 21% since 2023. This concerns me. We're both retired and live on a limited income. Now then, the school board has presented a tax increase. I think it was what, 60, an average of $65 per household. I think I'm correct on that. Living on a fixed income and being retired, that's a lot of money. So, I'm in not in favor of increasing the tax burden on retired people living on a fixed income as proposed here. Now, do you folks have any questions or comments to what I said? Agreed or disagreed? This is Yes. Uh during a public hearing, we're only to hear from you. Pardon? During during the public hearing, it's only for the public to speak. We we are
009not allowed. Okay. But you Okay. But that's my feelings and my thoughts. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you very much. Do we have anyone else who would like to speak? Thank you very much. Our next hearing is is tonight at 6 PM. public, if you're watching, uh please uh come this evening and let us hear from you. I will now accept a motion to adjourn. It's been moved. Moved and seconded. All in favor? Thank you very much. We're adjourned.