The Richmond County Board of Education is proposing an increase to its millage rate, as announced in the school board’s called meeting, Tuesday afternoon, and in a notice of property tax increase subsequently distributed to the public the same day.
The school board has tentatively adopted a rate of 18.33 mills for the 2024 property taxes, up from last year’s 16.493 mills.
MORE: Dispute arises about Arts in the Heart Festival
In the meeting, Bob Smith, the school system’s chief financial officer, highlighted certain items approved in the district’s budget in June. Among these were a classroom teacher pay scale increase of $3,200 implemented, Smith explained, to recruit new teachers “fresh out of college” with a starting pay of more than $50,000.
“The reason we had to do that is our local school districts in the area were already around the $50,000 mark, and we were having issues with recruiting teachers with a lower pay rate,” said Smith.
Smith also noted that the school system has been paying staff retention bonuses of $1,000-$2,000 each year using American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds, which are slated to be cut off in September. The RCBOE budget and finance department staff are recommending a similar retention program, offering one-time $500 bonuses in December.
Other increases included a state-mandated rise in classified health insurance for employees from $12,840 to $18,150 per year, starting pay for bus drivers going from approximately $14 to $17 per hour, and a $2 raise for paraprofessionals.
The school board unanimously voted to accept the new millage rate, pending the three upcoming public hearings required when a property tax rates increase is proposed.
School board president Charlie Walker emphasized that the new rate would allow the school system to afford to be competitive in retaining and compensating its faculties and staff.
“Almost every single one of those line items shows some type of employee or staff increase that we take very seriously,” said Walker. “If we’re being fiscally conservative and fiscally responsible, these are the kind of things that I would think that the community would want to pay attention to … in order for our staff and our employees to continue to operate at a high level.”
The first public millage rate hearing will be Tuesday, Aug. 20, at noon. The second will be the same date, following the regular board meeting at 6 p.m., and the third will be Aug. 27, at 5:30 p.m.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
