Clarkesville City Council approved a $5.1 million budget and a lower millage rate for fiscal year 2025 at a regular meeting Monday.
The 2025 millage rate will see a full roll back – going from 6.011 to 5.428 mills – for the second consecutive year.
A mill is equal to $1 per $1,000 in taxable property value, and property is assessed and taxed at 100 percent of its value in Clarkesville.
The lower tax rate comes as Clarkesville experienced higher revenue – mostly due to new growth throughout the city – last year.
New growth
Clarkesville City Manager Keith Dickerson said much of the city’s new growth stems from new businesses and homes built in the community. Property taxes have brought an additional $143,982 to the digest between 2020 and 2025, though Dickerson expects that figure to increase into 2026.
“We got a lot of new construction, a lot of new homes that just didn’t make it into the digest this year,” he said. “You’re going to see a lot bigger growth number there next year.”
The 2025 budget – up by about $90,000 from last year – has the city’s general fund at a total of $2.9 million and its water/sewer fund at $2 million.
Top expenses in the general fund include administration (33%), police (37%) and fire (19%).
Pay raises
While the general fund saw a slight dip of $545 from last year, inflation accounted for increases in the city’s water/sewer fund as supplies and chemicals have continued to rise.
“Most of them are petroleum derivative products – so, as long as oil prices are high – they go up, and there’s not much we can do about that,” Dickerson said. “…we feel the pinch as well as anybody else does. We’re doing our best to conserve where we can, without dropping our services off, and to continue to improve our infrastructure is a necessity.”
The newly-passed budget also included a pay raise of 1%-3% for certain city employees, Dickerson said, namely those in the police department. The department is also expected to receive a new police vehicle next year.
“I’ll say that 3% was approved for all employees – except for the ones that got a mid-year increase,” Dickerson said.
‘Cost of doing business’
Dickerson also recommended a 7% increase on water/sewer rates in 2025 – “the most significant increase” the city has had. He called this “the cost of doing business” amid a growing population and rising inflation.
“But we can’t afford to operate in the negative,” he said. “We don’t have a cushion here.”
After the meeting, Clarkesville Mayor Barrie Aycock credited Dickerson for the city’s effort in lowering the millage rate.
“We have an extremely competent city manager who understands the budget and manages it,” she said. “He also is aware of the challenges all of our residents have to make ends meet, and he wants to make sure we have what we need – but we (also) have a balanced budget.”
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