The Clarkesville City Council approved their 2024 budget and a partial millage rate rollback for 2023 property taxes at their regular council meeting Monday night. The millage rate that was approved is now 6.011, a partial rollback of .1 mill.
The total budget for 2024 is $5,097,244.
Clarkesville held three public hearings Monday to review the 2024 budget and receive public comments prior to approving both items at their 6 p.m. regular council meeting. The city’s millage rate public hearings and 2024 budget review were held at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and again during the 6 p.m. regular meeting.
According to Keith Dickerson, no one spoke during the morning and midday public hearings. However, one resident spoke during the public hearing at the evening meeting. Burton Collin of LaCount Lane addressed the city council about the tax notification that he had received. “Put it mildly, when I looked at it, I was shocked,” he said.
Collin told the council that from his calculations, his property taxes increased 26.5% over last year.
“I don’t know what to do. I wonder what’s going to happen next year. What’s it going to be next year?” he asked the council.
The approved millage rate is now set at 6.011 mills. A partial rollback of .1 mill from last year’s millage rate of 6.111 mills. Though it is a millage rate rollback, it is not a full rollback. The full rollback would have been .814 mills reducing the millage rate to 5.297 mills.
The partial rollback will reduce the taxes on a $250,000 house by approximately $90, while a full rollback would have saved the same homeowner approximately $700.
Even with the slight reduction in taxes, the city will still experience a net increase in property taxes to the tune of nearly $300,000. The majority of the tax increase, 70.6% or $211,800, will come from the reassessment of existing properties. The remaining 29.4%, or $88,200, will come from new properties added to the tax digest.
The approved budget begins on January 1, 2024.
The general fund, which is funded primarily by property taxes, accounts for $2,926,452 of the overall budget. The water and sewer fund is $1,964,792, and the sanitation fund is $206,000.
