Last month, the Bulloch County Board of Education announced its intention to increase the 2023 property taxes it will levy this year by 16.07% over the rollback millage rate.
The Board is expected to vote on its maintenance and operations (M&O) millage rate at a special called session on Aug. 18, at 12 p.m.
“After receiving the 2023 tax digest from the Bulloch County Tax Assessor’s Office and consulting with the school district’s legal counsel, we determined that the Board of Education will not be able to roll back the millage rate,” said Superintendent Charles Wilson.
In accordance with Georgia law (OCGA 20-2-165), boards of education must maintain an equivalent millage rate of at least 14 mills to prevent a loss of their state equalization grant funding. Currently, Bulloch County Schools’ state equalization grant funding totals more than $7.4 million. For Bulloch County Schools, the 14-mill calculation requirement is composed of the property tax millage rate that the Board must adopt annually along with the equivalent mills produced by the Local Option Sales Tax that the school district collects for maintenance and operations purposes.
“Based upon the value of the 2023 tax digest, a complete rollback of the district’s millage rate would be 7.304 mills, which when combined with the imputed value of Local Option Sales Tax collections of 5.522 mills, equates to only 12.826 mills, which is below the state’s legal threshold,” Wilson added.
Due to the nature of the millage rate rollback process, this action will effectively constitute an increase in property taxes. All concerned citizens are invited to the final two public hearings on this tax increase to be held in the boardroom of the Bulloch County Board of Education at 150 Williams Road, Statesboro, Georgia, on Thursday, August 17, at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
