Chatham County Commission to Increase Taxes

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners today announces its intention to increase the property taxes it will levy this year by -0.75 percentage over the rollback millage rate for General Maintenance and Operations taxes, -0.43 percentage over the rollback millage rate for Special Service District taxes, and -0.49 percentage over the rollback millage rate for Chatham Area Transit Authority.

Each year, the board of tax assessors is required to review the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable property in the county. When the trend in prices on properties that have recently sold in the county indicate that there has been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property, the board of tax assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of such property and increase the assessment. This is called a reassessment.

When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia Law requires that a rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s new digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred. The negative amounts shown above are the result of a formula dictated by law.

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners is considering adopting a millage rate equal to last year’s rate. Therefore, before the Chatham County Board of Commissioners may finalize the budget and set a final millage rate, Georgia Law requires that three public hearings be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions.

All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings to be held at the following locations at the indicated times: July 15, 2009 at 9:30 AM and 6:00 PM and July 23, 2009 at 9:00 AM at the Chatham County Commissioner’s meeting room, 124 Bull Street, Savannah, Georgia. If it is determined that these hearings are not required by state law, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners may decide to cancel the unnecessary hearings and take action at their regularly scheduled meeting on July 23, 2009 at 9:00 a.m.