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Tift County and the Board of Education (BOE) have now joined the City of Tifton in setting new millage rates, and property tax bills are now being prepared to be sent.
Tift County Tax Commissioner Chad Alexander said Tuesday that the tax bills will be mailed “by the end of the month.” Property taxes will be due within 60 days of the mailing date.
Both the City of Tifton and Tift County rolled back their property tax millage rates to maintain current funding levels, resulting in no overall tax increases following property reassessments. The revaluation of property in the county delayed the process of setting tax rates for the year.
On Monday, the Tift County Commission set its millage rate at 8.427 mills, rolling it back from 11.853 mills. The city had already set its millage rate at 6.236 mills, a 3.036 millage rollback from last year’s rate of 9.272 mills.
The school board on Thursday approved a millage rate of 14 mills, a 2.5-mill rollback resulting in a property tax increase of 19.54%. School officials said that reducing the rate below 14 mills could jeopardize approximately $6 million in state funding for the school system.
Also, because Tift County Schools is opting out of the homestead exemption offered by House Bill 581 and approved by voters in November, three public hearings have been scheduled: One was held last Friday, and the others are noon Jan. 24 and 6 p.m. Feb. 13 at the BOE office.
HB 581, passed by the General Assembly last year, introduces a floating statewide homestead exemption that limits increases in taxable home values to the prior year’s inflation rate.
The Tift BOE has said it "feels opting out would be the best option to protect the financial stability of the schools and protect public education in the community."
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