The Columbia County Board of Education will have a hearing at Tuesday’s meeting regarding millage rates.
According to tax officials, many in the public don’t quite understand what tax millage rates are, how they are assessed or how specifically they affect taxes.
“It’s complicated, but it’s not once you understand,” said Wayne Bridges, Columbia County tax commissioner.
Tax millage rates are arrived at by assessing property values throughout the county and using that assessment to fit the budget set by the county commissioners. The assessed value of a property is calculated at 40%. County tax assessors calculate the assessed value of all properties. This total is called the tax digest.
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“If you have a $200,000 home, the assessment is 40%, the assessed value. The total of all our assessments is our tax digest, this is what we’re able to tax. Then we look at the proposed budget divided by the tax digest, comes up with a millage rate, or how much you’re going to pay per $1,000 of value,” he said.
The budget is then divided by the tax digest to arrive at a millage rate. This millage rate is usually expressed as a certain dollar amount per $1,000 of assessed value.
“We have this much property in our county, so how much do we need to charge each piece of property to get our money,” he said. “That’s how we figure out how much we need.”
There is a school millage rate, which is currently 18.3 %. The raising or the lowering of this millage rate is required by law to be announced in three hearings to give notice to residents and to open the opportunity for citizen input.
The upcoming board meeting will be the third hearing this year. The board of education meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
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