Three public hearings to allow for public input  

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners today announces its intention to maintain the county’s Maintenance & Operations, Bond and Fire millage rates currently in place with no change. Due to the growth in the tax digest, Maintenance & Operations property taxes levied by the County this year will increase by a net 9.58% over the rollback millage rate.

The proposed county Maintenance & Operations rate remains unchanged at 4.791 mills. The proposed Fire rate remains unchanged at 2.175 mills. The proposed Bond rate remains unchanged at 0.930 mills. These rates will fund the county’s 2024 general operating budget, which is currently in the preliminary stages of development. Forsyth County continues to have millage rates among the lowest in metro Atlanta.

A growth of 15.31% in Forsyth County’s tax digest means that, while the county is maintaining the same millage rates with no change, the anticipated total collections will increase. Of the 15.31% growth, 5.22% is due to new construction in 2022 and the remaining 10.09% comes from increased values from reassessments.

Any change in an individual tax bill will depend upon the change in assessed valuation for that property, and the value of any Homestead Exemption, which may also change with the assessed value.

When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires that a rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments or growth occurred.

The preliminary 2024 budget presented to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners is based on a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate, therefore before the Board of Commissioners may set a final millage rate, Georgia law requires three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase.

All concerned citizens are invited and encouraged to attend the public hearings:

- Thursday, July 6, 2023 at 5 p.m.

- Thursday, July 20, 2023 at 11 a.m.

- Thursday, July 20, 2023 at 6 p.m.

All three public hearings will be held at the Forsyth County Administration Building located at 110 E. Main Street, Suite 220, in Cumming. Adoption of the millage rate is slated for July 20 at 6:30 p.m. as part of the Board of Commissioners’ regular meeting.