MILTON, Ga. — Milton residents will have one more opportunity to provide comments on the 2023 millage rate at the City Council meeting Aug. 21, when it will be formally adopted.
The city has advertised its current rate of 4.469 mills, which, though the same as last year, would represent a 1.82 percent increase in property taxes because of higher property values.
The council held a special-called meeting Aug. 14 for the second of three required public hearings on the millage rate. The meeting was quick and quiet with no public comments or discussion from the council.
Milton Deputy City Manager Bernadette Harvill said the fiscal year 2024 budget is most closely supported by a rate of 4.395 mills. That rate would yield about $256,000 less in revenue for the city as compared to the proposed rate, but it would save the average resident claiming a homestead exemption on a $700,000 home about $20 on their property tax bill.
Harvill presented a draft of the new budget in an earlier work session Monday evening. The budget includes $42.6 million in expenses. Public Safety accounts for about 40 percent of Milton’s fiscal year 2024 budget.
She proposed surplus from fiscal year 2023 be transferred to the capital projects fund to pay for the city’s pay-as-you-go projects, which includes $3.4 million for the planning, construction and outfitting of Fire Station 45, $951,330 for a new fire apparatus and $752,131 for the planning and construction of a new indoor community center, whose location has not yet been determined.
The first public hearing for the fiscal year 2024 budget is scheduled for Sept. 6. The second public hearing, as well as budget adoption, is scheduled for Sept. 18.
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