Habersham’s Board of Education officially adopted its millage rate for the fiscal year 2016 on Monday morning. The Board’s official fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30, 2016. The rate the Board adopted is 14.49.
Georgia law requires the Board to have a 14-day waiting period between advertising the rate in the county’s “legal organ newspaper” and adoption by vote in a Board meeting. Monday morning, that meeting was held, and the Board voted unanimously to adopt the millage rate it had advertised.
The school system’s Chief Financial Officer Staci Newsome said this is the third year in a row that the Board has adopted a “rollback” rate, one that is less than the year before. That ensures more state funding coming to the school system this year, she said. The Board’s adopted millage rate will not affect citizens’ taxes, she added. Their taxes will not necessarily go down, stay the same, or increase because of the school system’s adopted rate, she said, saying that other factors such as property assessments, have an effect on citizens’ taxes.
After the vote of adoption, Superintendent Matthew Cooper signed a letter to the Habersham County Board of Commissioners, stating that “on July 27, 2015, the Habersham County Board of Eduation set the school maintenance and operation millage rate at the calculated rollback rate of 14.49 mills.” A copy of that letter is also provided to Tax Commissioner June Black’s office. A final total millage rate will be determined by the Board of Commissioners.
