(Last Updated On: August 4, 2023)
The Coweta County Board of Education voted 7-0 to lower the 2023 school system property tax rate to 15.41 mills, at a called board meeting Thursday night. It was the fourth year in a row that the board has reduced school system millage rates in response to rising tax digest values.
The school board lowered the school maintenance and operation (M&O) tax rate by 0.59 mills, down from 16.00 mills set in 2022. The board also set the property tax millage for bond debt at 0.00 mills, since the school system operates without capital project debt.
The millage rate is the rate applied to local property taxes, which provides the school system with approximately half of its funding for maintenance and operations of the school system. The board set this year’s school tax rate after three public hearings on July 27 and August 3, and voted to set this year’s rate at a 7:00 p.m. called board meeting following the third hearing.
The resulting millage rate is the lowest school property tax in Coweta County since 1983.
For a video breakdown of this year’s millage rate recommendation, go here
For accompanying charts detailing this year’s tax rate adoption, go here
The 15.41 mill rate will lead to an estimated 9.52% increase in local school system tax revenues over a projected rollback rate of 14.08 mills this year.
However, increases in the value of real and personal property in Coweta County from 2022 to 2023 will also, under state law, lead to an anticipated decrease in state educational funding of approximately $6 million under state school funding formulas going forward, because of “Local Fair Share” calculations required in Georgia’s school funding formula.
Local Fair Share requires school systems to levy 5 mills of the total of their local tax digest in order to participate in State Quality Basic Education funding, and an equivalent amount is…
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