Millage Rate ExplainedA mill is a value equal to one one thousandth of a U.S. dollar. State, county and school boards set mill rates as a portion of each dollar to collect as taxes to pay for the expense of their operations and services. How do they do that? Good advance planning is a must. Below is a simplified explanation of the local county government procedure. The first step, which can take months, is to place a Fair Market Value on all property in the County. The Tax Assessors' office has the responsibility for doing this, using state laws and regulations as guidelines. Only 40 percent of the Fair Market Value can be taxed, so after property is valued, the taxable amount is calculated like this: Taxable Property Value = Fair Market Value of property x 40% Then exemptions are applied to the taxable property value to get the final value to be used for taxing purposes, called the "net assessed property value": Net Assessed Property Value = Taxable Property Value - Homestead (or other) exemptions The second step, which is done while the first is still in process, is to determine how much revenue will be needed for the upcoming fiscal year. Each department must prepare a reasonable budget, taking into account operating costs plus adjustments due to new projects or services being offered as well as rising prices. The budget is then submitted to an approval process that includes public hearings before the Commissioners and public input. Once approved, the county knows how much revenue to collect in the next fiscal year, as shown below: Revenue needed = Department 1 budget + Department 2 budget + Department 3 budget, etc. At this point the county must wait for Step 1 to be completed before proceeding. Once property tax values have been set, the amount of non-tax revenue (permit fees, fines, etc) received the previous year from all sources is gathered and totaled.* Knowing approximately how much may be collected is important, because these figures reduce the amount of property tax collected, as can be seen in the formula below: Revenue to collect from property taxes = Revenue needed - Non-tax revenue Next, the value of all motor vehicles, non-homestead mobile homes, timber and other taxable property is added to the property tax value to determine the approximate total digest value. Because there is no way of knowing how many building and other permits will be issued, how many fines will be collected, or how many vehicles will be tagged and taxed, etc., in the coming year, projected revenue from these sources can only be estimated by using the previous year's collections. The county then proceeds to set the millage rate. How do we know how many mills to collect per dollar? By dividing the amount of revenue to collect from property taxes by the total digest value: Millage Rate = Revenue to collect from property taxes / Total digest value Once the millage rates are set, they must be advertised in the newspaper, and public hearings must be conducted. Sometimes more than one rate is set by each authority due to special items (such as indigent care) or bonds having to be paid; i.e., on some years a "School Bond" and/or a "County Bond" have been collected. After they become final, the county millage rate(s) are added to the millage rates set by the state of Georgia and the Habersham County School Board to produce a total millage rate: Total Millage Rate = State millage rate + County millage rate(s) + School millage rate(s) The digest is then taken to the State of Georgia, Property Tax Division, which reviews it. If the state thinks the values submitted are too low (or too high), they can fine the County and force the values to be adjusted higher or lower. To reduce the possibility of this from happening, the Tax Assessors conduct careful "sales studies" of neighborhoods to get Fair Market Values. Once the state approves the digest, the final stage of this process occurs as tax bills are calculated and mailed out: Tax Amount Due = Millage Rate x Net Assessed Property Value Below are examples of previous millage rates: 2007 Unincorporated Millage Rate for properties outside the city limits is as follows:
This means you would pay $23.17 per $1,000 assessed value of your property. 1998 Incorporated Millage Rate for properties inside the city limits is as follows:
This means you would pay $23.35 per $1,000 assessed value of your property. For more information about taxes and fees, see the Tax Commissioner section of this website. CLICK HERE to go that section now. |
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